Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Abilities at Older Ages? Causal Evidence from Nonparametric Bounds

Vikesh Amin, Jere R. Behrman, Jason M. Fletcher, Carlos A. Flores, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes () and Hans-Peter Kohler
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Vikesh Amin: Central Michigan University
Jere R. Behrman: University of Pennsylvania
Jason M. Fletcher: University of Wisconsin-Madison, IZA, and NBER
Carlos A. Flores: California Polytechnic State University
Hans-Peter Kohler: University of Pennsylvania

No 25-417, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: We revisit much-investigated relationships between schooling and health, focusing on schooling impacts on cognitive abilities at older ages using the Harmonized Cognition Assessment Protocol in the Health & Retirement Study (HRS) and a bounding approach that requires relatively weak assumptions. Our estimated upper bounds on the population average effects indicate potentially large causal effects of increasing schooling from primary to secondary; yet, these upper bounds are smaller than many estimates from the literature on causal schooling impacts on cognition using compulsory-schooling laws. We also cannot rule out small and null effects at this margin. We do, however, find evidence for positive causal effects on cognition of increasing schooling from secondary to tertiary. We replicate findings from the HRS using older adults from the Midlife in United States Development Study Cognitive Project. We further explore possible mechanisms through which schooling may be working—such as health, SES, occupation and spousal schooling—finding suggestive evidence of effects through such mechanisms.

Keywords: Schooling; Cognition; Bounds; Aging; Partial-Identification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I26 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem and nep-lab
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Related works:
Working Paper: Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Abilities at Older Ages: Causal Evidence from Nonparametric Bounds (2022)
Working Paper: Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Abilities at Older Ages: Causal Evidence from Nonparametric Bounds (2022)
Working Paper: Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Abilities at Older Ages? Causal Evidence from Nonparametric Bounds (2022)
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