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The Causal Effect of Education on Chronic Health Conditions

Research output: Working paperDiscussion paper

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Publication date02/2018
Place of PublicationBonn
PublisherIZA Institute of Labor Economics
Number of pages27
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Publication series

NameIZA Discussion Paper Series
No.11353

Abstract

Studies using education policy reforms to isolate causal effects of education on health produce mixed evidence. We analyse an unusually large sample and study chronic health conditions. For identification, we use two major education reforms, one that raised the minimum school leaving age and one that affected the broader educational attainment distribution. This method generated precise estimates of the impact of education on a comprehensive range of health conditions. Our results indicate that extra education, at the lowest end or higher up the attainment distribution, has little impact on the prevalence of chronic illness. The one interesting exception is diabetes.