The Causal Effects of Education on Health Behaviors: Evidence from Turkey

Aysıt Tansel () and Deniz Karaoğlan ()
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Deniz Karaoğlan: Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, METU

No 1606, ERC Working Papers from ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University

Abstract: This study provides causal effect of education on health behaviors in Turkey which is a middle income developing country. Health Survey of the Turkish Statistical Institute for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012 are used. The health behaviors considered are smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, exercising and one health outcome namely, the body mass index (BMI). We examine the causal effect of education on these health behaviors and the BMI Instrumental variable approach is used in order to address the endogeneity of education to health behaviors. Educational expansion of the early 1960s is used as the source of exogenous variation in years of schooling. Our main findings are as follows. Education does not significantly affect the probability of smoking or exercising. The higher the education level the higher the probability of alcohol consumption and the probability of fruit and vegetable consumption. Higher levels of education lead to higher BMI levels. This study provides a baseline for further research on the various aspects of health behaviors in Turkey.

Keywords: Turkey; Health Behaviors; Education; Instrumental Variable Estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2016-06, Revised 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-net
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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http://erc.metu.edu.tr/en/system/files/menu/series16/1606.pdf First version, 2016 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Causal Effect of Education on Health Behaviors: Evidence From Turkey (2016)
Working Paper: The Causal Effect of Education on Health Behaviors: Evidence from Turkey (2016)
Working Paper: The Causal Effect of Education on Health Behaviors: Evidence from Turkey (2016)
Working Paper: The Causal Effect of Education on Health Behaviors: Evidence From Turkey (2016)
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