The Effects of Education on Health: An Intergenerational Perspective

Mathias Huebener

No 11795, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper presents evidence of substantial causal effects of parental education on children's health behaviours and long-term health. We study intergenerational effects of a compulsory schooling increase in Germany after World War II, which was implemented across federal states at different points in time. Maternal schooling reduces children's smoking and overweight in adolescence. The effects persist into children's adulthood, reducing chronic conditions that often result from unhealthy lifestyles. We find no effects of paternal education. Children's peer environment early in life and increased investments in their education are possible effect channels. The intergenerational effects exceed the direct effects on health.

Keywords: parental education; returns to education; smoking; overweight; compulsory schooling; health behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I24 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2018-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published online in: Journal of Human Resources , 10 November 2022

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp11795.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Intergenerational Effects of Education on Risky Health Behaviours and Long-Term Health (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11795

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().