Unlucky to Be Young? The Long-Term Effects of School Starting Age on Smoking Behaviour and Health

Michael Bahrs and Mathias Schumann

No 13, hche Research Papers from University of Hamburg, Hamburg Center for Health Economics (hche)

Abstract: In this study, we analyse the long-term effects of school starting age on smoking behaviour and health in adulthood. School entry rules combined with birth month are used as an instrument for school starting age. The analysis adopts the German Socio- Economic Panel data and employs a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. The results reveal that school starting age reduces the long-term risk to smoke, improves long-term health, and affects physical rather than mental health. In addition, we find that the relative age composition of peers and the school environment are important mechanisms.

Keywords: smoking; health; peer effects; education; school starting age; regression discontinuity design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I21 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea, nep-sog and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:hcherp:201613

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