The effect of college education on mortality

Kasey Buckles; Andreas Hagemann; Ofer Malamud; Melinda Morrill; Abigail Wozniak

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.08.002

The effect of college education on mortality

Kasey Buckles, Andreas Hagemann, Ofer Malamud, Melinda Morrill, Abigail Wozniak^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Education and Social Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

We exploit exogenous variation in years of completed college induced by draft-avoidance behavior during the Vietnam War to examine the impact of college on adult mortality. Our estimates imply that increasing college attainment from the level of the state at the 25th percentile of the education distribution to that of the state at the 75th percentile would decrease cumulative mortality for cohorts in our sample by 8 to 10 percent relative to the mean. Most of the reduction in mortality is from deaths due to cancer and heart disease. We also explore potential mechanisms, including differential earnings and health insurance.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	99-114
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Health Economics
Volume	50
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.08.002
State	Published - Dec 1 2016

Keywords

College
Education
Instrumental variables
Mortality
Vietnam draft

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health Policy
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.08.002

Cite this

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title = "The effect of college education on mortality",

abstract = "We exploit exogenous variation in years of completed college induced by draft-avoidance behavior during the Vietnam War to examine the impact of college on adult mortality. Our estimates imply that increasing college attainment from the level of the state at the 25th percentile of the education distribution to that of the state at the 75th percentile would decrease cumulative mortality for cohorts in our sample by 8 to 10 percent relative to the mean. Most of the reduction in mortality is from deaths due to cancer and heart disease. We also explore potential mechanisms, including differential earnings and health insurance.",

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AU - Buckles, Kasey

AU - Hagemann, Andreas

AU - Malamud, Ofer

AU - Morrill, Melinda

AU - Wozniak, Abigail

PY - 2016/12/1

Y1 - 2016/12/1

N2 - We exploit exogenous variation in years of completed college induced by draft-avoidance behavior during the Vietnam War to examine the impact of college on adult mortality. Our estimates imply that increasing college attainment from the level of the state at the 25th percentile of the education distribution to that of the state at the 75th percentile would decrease cumulative mortality for cohorts in our sample by 8 to 10 percent relative to the mean. Most of the reduction in mortality is from deaths due to cancer and heart disease. We also explore potential mechanisms, including differential earnings and health insurance.

AB - We exploit exogenous variation in years of completed college induced by draft-avoidance behavior during the Vietnam War to examine the impact of college on adult mortality. Our estimates imply that increasing college attainment from the level of the state at the 25th percentile of the education distribution to that of the state at the 75th percentile would decrease cumulative mortality for cohorts in our sample by 8 to 10 percent relative to the mean. Most of the reduction in mortality is from deaths due to cancer and heart disease. We also explore potential mechanisms, including differential earnings and health insurance.

KW - College

KW - Education

KW - Instrumental variables

KW - Mortality

KW - Vietnam draft

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JF - Journal of Health Economics

ER -

The effect of college education on mortality

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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