The Health Returns of University Eligibility

Gawain Heckley, Martin Nordin and Ulf-G. Gerdtham

No 2020:7, Working Papers from Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper exploits an arbitrary university eligibility rule in Sweden combined with regression discontinuity to estimate the impact of university education on health derived demand for medical care. We find a clear jump in university attendance due to university eligibility of between 10 and 14 percentage points. For females this implies a 30-40% drop in self-harm. For males it coincides with reduced use of prescribed pain killers, implying reduced risky behaviour. Males also observe a 30% increase in mental disorders, almost exclusively related to alcohol. The spillovers of university education on to health for the marginal student are therefore significant.

Keywords: Health returns to education; demand for medical care; Regression Discontinuity Design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I23 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2020-04-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-gen, nep-hea and nep-ore
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2020_007

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