The Causal Effect of Education on Health

Giorgio Brunello, Margherita Fort, Nicole Schneeweis and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer

No 280, Economics Series from Institute for Advanced Studies

Abstract: We study the contribution of health-related behaviors to the health-education gradient by distinguishing between short-run and long-run mediating effects:while in the former only current or lagged behaviors are taken into account, in the latter we consider the entire history of behaviors. We use an empirical approach that addresses the endogeneity of education and behaviors in the health production function. Focusing on self-reported poor health as our health out-come, we find that education has a protective effect for European males and females aged 50+. We also find that the mediating effects of health behaviors - measured by smoking, drinking, exercising and the body mass index – account in the short run for 17% to 31% and in the long run for 23% to 45% of the entire effect of education on health, depending on gender.

Keywords: Health; education; health behaviors; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2011-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (49)

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https://irihs.ihs.ac.at/id/eprint/2106 First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:280

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