Abstract
This paper examines the causal effect of education on long-run physical health, using survey data on matched siblings. By adopting a sibling-differences strategy, we are able to obtain estimates that are not biased by unobserved genetic factors and family background which affect both education and health. To address the potential endogenous shocks that affect siblings differently within the family, we further employ an instrumental variable approach by exploiting a profound disturbance in the education system during the Cultural Revolution in China. The within-sibling estimates suggest that an additional year of schooling is found to be positively related to health status later in life (better self-reported health, lower probability of feeling uncomfortable, getting chronic diseases, and being underweight). We also unravel the potential roles of income and cognition in the effects of education on health.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Anastasia Arabadzhyan, Matteo Cervellati, Vincenzo Denicolò, Daniela Iorio, Paolo Masella, Chiara Monfardini, Robson Tigre, Pi-Han Tsai, Lingwei Wu, Tzu-Ting Yang and the seminar participants at the University of Bologna for valuable feedback and suggestions. We also thank the CSC (China Scholarship Council) for financial support. Finally, we thank the editor Mariapia Mendola and an anonymous referee for the very constructive comments.
References
Aaronson, D., and B. Mazumder. 2011. “The Impact of Rosenwald Schools on Black Achievement.” Journal of Political Economy 119 (5): 821–888.10.1086/662962Search in Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O., and A. Krueger. 1994. “Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling from a New Sample of Twins.” American Economic Review 84 (5): 1157–1173.Search in Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O., and C. Rouse. 1998. “Income, Schooling and Ability: Evidence from a New Sample of Identical Twins.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 113 (1): 253–284.10.3386/w6106Search in Google Scholar
Bound, J., and G. Solon. 1999. “Double Trouble: On the Value of Twin-Based Estimation of the Return to Schooling.” Economics of Education Review 18: 169–182.10.3386/w6721Search in Google Scholar
Cutler, D. M., A. Lleras-Muney. 2010. “Understanding Differences in Health Behaviors by Education.” Journal of Health Economics 29 (1): 1–28.10.1016/j.jhealeco.2009.10.003Search in Google Scholar
Lleras-Muney, A. 2005. “The Relationships Between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States.” Review of Economic Studies 1 (250): 189–221.10.3386/w8986Search in Google Scholar
Lundborg, P. 2013. “The Health Returns to Schooling–What Can we Learn From Twins?” Journal of Population Economics 26: 673–701.10.1007/s00148-012-0429-5Search in Google Scholar
Meng, X., and R.G. Gregory. 2002. “The Impact of Interrupted Education on Subsequent Educational Attainment: A Cost of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 50 (4): 935–959.10.1086/342761Search in Google Scholar
Oreopoulos, P. 2006. “Estimating Average and Local Average Treatment Effects of Education when Compulsory School Laws Really Matter.” American Economic Review 96 (1): 152–175.10.1257/000282806776157641Search in Google Scholar
Wu, L.W. 2017. “The Invisible Wound: The long-term impact of China’s Cultural Revolution on trust.” Working Paper.Search in Google Scholar
Xie, Y., Y. Jiang, and E. Greenman. 2008. “Did Send-Down Experience Benefit Youth? A Reevaluation of the Social Consequences of Forced Urban-Rural Migration During China’s Cultural Revolution.” Social Science Research 37 (2): 686–700.10.1016/j.ssresearch.2007.08.002Search in Google Scholar
Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (DOI:https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2018-0121).
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston