The Relationship between Health and Schooling: What’s New?

Michael Grossman

No 21609, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Many studies suggest that years of formal schooling completed is the most important correlate of good health. There is much less consensus as to whether this correlation reflects causality from more schooling to better health. The relationship may be traced in part to reverse causality and may also reflect “omitted third variables” that cause health and schooling to vary in the same direction. The past five years (2010-2014) have witnessed the development of a large literature focusing on the issue just raised. I deal with that literature and what can be learned from it in this paper. I conclude that there is enough conflicting evidence in the studies that I have reviewed to warrant more research on the question of whether more schooling does in fact cause better health outcomes.

JEL-codes: I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ltv
Note: EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (70)

Published as Nordic Journal of Health Economics 3, No. 1 (2015), pp. 7-17
Published as Michael Grossman, 2008. "The Relationship Between Health and Schooling," Eastern Economic Journal, vol 34(3), pages 281-292.

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Working Paper: The Relationship between Health and Schooling: What's New? (2015)
Working Paper: The Relationship between Health and Schooling: What's New? (2015)
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