Education, Cognition, Health Knowledge, and Health Behavior

Naci Mocan and Duha Altindag ()

No 17949, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using data from the NLSY97 we analyze the impact of education on health behaviors, measured by smoking and heavy drinking. Controlling for health knowledge does not influence the impact of education on health behaviors, supporting the productive efficiency hypothesis. Although cognition, as measured by test scores, appears to have an effect on the relationship between education and health behaviors, this effect disappears once the models control for family fixed effects. Similarly, the impact of education on smoking and heavy drinking is the same between those with and without a learning disability, suggesting that cognition is not likely to be a significant factor in explaining the impact of education on health behaviors.

JEL-codes: I12 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as “Health Knowledge, Education and the Demand for Health Inputs,” European Journal of Health Economics, (2014), 15(3), pp. 265-79 . (with Naci Mocan).

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Related works:
Journal Article: Education, cognition, health knowledge, and health behavior (2014)
Working Paper: Education, Cognition, Health Knowledge, and Health Behavior (2013)
Working Paper: Education, Cognition, Health Knowledge, and Health Behavior (2013)
Working Paper: Education, Cognition, Health Knowledge, and Health Behavior (2012)
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