A Theory of Education and Health

Titus Galama and Hans van Kippersluis
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Hans van Kippersluis: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

No 15-031/V, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: This paper presents a unified theory of human capital with both health capital and, what we term, skill capital endogenously determined within the model. By considering joint investment in health capital and in skill capital, the model highlights similarities and differences in these two important components of human capital. Health is distinct from skill: health is important to longevity, provides direct utility, provides time that can be devoted to work or other uses, is valued later in life, and eventually declines, no matter how much one invests in it (a dismal fact of life). Lifetime earnings are strongly multiplicative in skill and health, so that investment in skill capital raises the return to investment in health capital, and vice versa. The theory provides a conceptual framework for empirical and theoretical studies aimed at understanding the complex relati onship between education and health, and generates several new testable predictions.

Keywords: health investment; lifecycle model; human capital; health capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I10 I12 J00 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-03-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Working Paper: A Theory of Education and Health (2015)
Working Paper: A Theory of Education and Health (2015)
Working Paper: A Theory of Education and Health (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150031

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