Life Expectancy, Schooling, and Lifetime Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence Revisited

Matteo Cervellati and Uwe Sunde

Munich Reprints in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role oflife expectancy for optimal schooling and lifetime labor supply. Theresults of a simple prototype Ben-Porath model with age-specificsurvival rates show that an increase in lifetime labor supply is not anecessary, or a sufficient, condition for greater life expectancy toincrease optimal schooling. The observed increase in survival ratesduring working ages that follows from the rectangularization of thesurvival function is crucial for schooling and labor supply. Theempirical results suggest that the relative benefits of schooling havebeen increasing across cohorts of U.S. men born between 1840 and 1930. Asimple quantitative analysis shows that a realistic shift in thesurvival function can lead to an increase in schooling and a reductionin lifetime labor hours.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (115)

Published in Econometrica 5 81(2013): pp. 2055-2086

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Life Expectancy, Schooling, and Lifetime Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence Revisited (2013)
Working Paper: Life Expectancy, Schooling, and Lifetime Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence Revisited (2013)
Working Paper: Life Expectancy, Schooling, and Lifetime Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence Revisited (2013)
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:lmu:muenar:20077

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Munich Reprints in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics Ludwigstr. 28, 80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tamilla Benkelberg ().