Reaping the Rewards Later: How Education Improves Old-Age Cognition in South Africa

Plamen Nikolov () and Steve Yeh
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Plamen Nikolov: Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Steve Yeh: Columbia University

No 15432, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Cognitive performance in late adulthood is critical for better welfare and understanding the causes of human capital depreciation in old age is increasingly crucial in aging societies. Using data from South Africa, we study how early life education affects cognition, a component of human capital critical to decision-making, in late adulthood. We show that an extra year of schooling improves memory and general cognition performance. We detect heterogeneous treatment effects by gender: the effects are stronger among women. We explore mechanisms and show that a more supportive social environment, improved health habits, and reduced stress levels are likely mediators for the beneficial effects of increased educational attainment on old-age cognition.

Keywords: human capital; educational attainment; cognitive performance; developing countries; aging; sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F63 I21 J14 J24 N37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2022-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-edu and nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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