Does Less Education Harm Health? Evidence From a Natural Experiment in a Developing Country

Islam Khalil, Debdulal Mallick and Aaron Nicholas

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2025, vol. 87, issue 4, 751-770

Abstract: We investigate the health outcome effects of a reduction in years of schooling in Egypt in 1988, a policy change that moves in the opposite direction in relation to the extant literature. We exploit this policy change as a natural experiment and employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to investigate a range of objectively measured health outcomes and behaviours. Despite the policy's adverse effect on students' years of schooling and ability to complete educational milestones, there is no statistical effect on any health outcomes. Results also suggest that the reduction in years of schooling had no effect on labour market outcomes, thus providing a rationale for the lack of effect on health outcomes. While increasing education often leads to improved health outcomes, our findings suggest that decreasing education does not necessarily result in poorer health outcomes.

Date: 2025
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