The Long-Term Cognitive and Schooling Effects of Childhood Vaccinations in China

Hamid R. Oskorouchi (), Alfonso Sousa-Poza and David E. Bloom ()
Additional contact information
Hamid R. Oskorouchi: University of Palermo
David E. Bloom: Harvard School of Public Health

No 13106, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: By exploiting rich retrospective data on childhood immunization, socioeconomics, and health status in China (the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), we assess the long-term effects of childhood vaccination on cognitive and educational outcomes in that country. To do so, we apply various techniques (e.g., propensity score and coarsened exact matching and correlated random effects) to different sets of conditioning variables and subsamples to estimate the average treatment on the treated effect of childhood vaccination. Our results confirm that vaccinations before the age of 15 have long-term positive and economically meaningful effects on nonhealth outcomes such as education and cognitive skills. These effects are relatively strong, with vaccinated individuals enjoying about one more year of schooling and performing substantially better later in life on several cognitive tests.

Keywords: China; vaccines; cognitive skills; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: China Economic Review, 2024, 88, 102293

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Related works:
Journal Article: The long-term cognitive and schooling effects of childhood vaccinations in China (2024)
Working Paper: The Long-Term Cognitive and Schooling Effects of Childhood Vaccinations in China (2020)
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