Life Expectancy and Education: Evidence from the Cardiovascular Revolution

Casper Hansen and Holger Strulik

No 15-01, Discussion Papers from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics

Abstract: In this study we investigate the causal impact of increasing adult longevity on higher education. We exploit the fourth stage of the epidemiological transition, i.e. the unexpected decline of deaths from heart attack and stroke in the 1970s as a large positive health shock that affected predominantly old age mortality. Using a differences-in-differences estimation strategy we find across U.S. states that the cardiovascular revolution led to an increase in adult life expectancy by about 2 years, which caused higher education enrollment to increase by 7 percentage points, i.e. 30 percent of the observed increase from 1970 to 2000. Our findings are robust to the inclusion of state-specific health trends and a host of confounding variables. They suggest large effects of improving longevity on higher education enrollment.

Keywords: adult life expectancy; higher education; cardiovascular diseases; 2SLS strategy; di erences-in-differences first-stage. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J24 N30 O10 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2015-01-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-edu and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Life expectancy and education: evidence from the cardiovascular revolution (2017)
Working Paper: Life expectancy and education: Evidence from the cardiovascular revolution (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1501

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