Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins

Peter Savelyev (), Benjamin C. Ward, Robert F. Krueger and Matt McGue

Journal of Health Economics, 2022, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: We analyze data from the Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR), combined with the Socioeconomic Survey of Twins (SST), and new mortality data, and contribute to two bodies of literature. First, we demonstrate a beneficial causal effect of education on health and longevity in contrast to other twin-based studies of the US population, which show little or no effect of education on health. Second, we present evidence that is consistent with parental compensation through education for differences in their children’s endowments that predict health, but find no evidence that parents reinforce differences in endowments that predict earnings. We argue that there is a bias towards detecting reinforcement both in this paper and in the literature. Despite this bias, we still find statistical evidence of compensating behavior. We account for observed and unobserved confounding factors, sample selection bias, and measurement error in education.

Keywords: Health endowment; Earnings endowment; Skill investments; Education; Intrafamily resource allocation; Health; Longevity; Twin study; Minnesota twin registry; Socioeconomic survey of twins (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 I24 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Health Endowments, Schooling Allocation in the Family, and Longevity: Evidence from US Twins (2021)
Working Paper: Health Endowments, Schooling Allocation in the Family, and Longevity: Evidence from US Twins (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:81:y:2022:i:c:s0167629621001399

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102554

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