Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Functioning at Older Ages?

Nicole Schneeweis, Vegard Skirbekk () and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer
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Vegard Skirbekk: University of Rostock

No 6958, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, fluency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia.

Keywords: memory; cognitive functioning; education; instrumental variables; compulsory schooling; aging; dementia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-eur and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published as 'Does Education Improve Cognitive Performance Four Decades After School Completion?' in: Demography, 2014, 51 (2), 619-643

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Related works:
Working Paper: Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Functioning at Older Ages? (2012)
Working Paper: Does schooling improve cognitive functioning at older ages? (2012)
Working Paper: Does schooling improve cognitive functioning at older ages? (2012)
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