Estimating the Education-Health Relationship: A Cost-Utility Approach
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Ezra Golberstein
Abstract
While considerable research studies the association between education and health, no prior research estimates the magnitude of health improvements associated with more schooling, accounting for both quantity and quality of life. We use longitudinal PSID data that combines repeated survey measures of health status with mortality data to measure the number of Quality-Adjusted Life Years accruing over a 23-year period. To reduce endogeneity concerns we utilize detailed survey information on family background, cognitive, and non-cognitive skills; and we estimate sibling fixed effects models. An additional year of schooling is associated with 0.20-0.38 additional QALYs over the 23-year study period. These estimates are considerably larger than looking at quality-unadjusted life years. We estimate that an additional year of schooling is associated with an incremental discounted lifetime value of $26,000-$49,000 of health. To the extent that our results approximate causal estimates, increasing education may be a cost-effective way to improve population health.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Socioeconomic Status and Health Over the Life Course and Across Generations: Introduction to a Special Issue and Overview of a Unique Data Resource
- Advances Article
- Attrition in Models of Intergenerational Links Using the PSID with Extensions to Health and to Sibling Models
- The Influence of Early-Life Events on Human Capital, Health Status, and Labor Market Outcomes Over the Life Course
- Health Dynamics and the Evolution of Health Inequality over the Life Course: The Importance of Neighborhood and Family Background
- Contributions Article
- Family and Community Influences on Health and Socioeconomic Status: Sibling Correlations Over the Life Course
- Decomposing the Intergenerational Disparity in Income and Obesity
- Health Inequality over the Life-Cycle
- Topics Article
- Estimating the Education-Health Relationship: A Cost-Utility Approach
- Occupational Status and Health Transitions
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Socioeconomic Status and Health Over the Life Course and Across Generations: Introduction to a Special Issue and Overview of a Unique Data Resource
- Advances Article
- Attrition in Models of Intergenerational Links Using the PSID with Extensions to Health and to Sibling Models
- The Influence of Early-Life Events on Human Capital, Health Status, and Labor Market Outcomes Over the Life Course
- Health Dynamics and the Evolution of Health Inequality over the Life Course: The Importance of Neighborhood and Family Background
- Contributions Article
- Family and Community Influences on Health and Socioeconomic Status: Sibling Correlations Over the Life Course
- Decomposing the Intergenerational Disparity in Income and Obesity
- Health Inequality over the Life-Cycle
- Topics Article
- Estimating the Education-Health Relationship: A Cost-Utility Approach
- Occupational Status and Health Transitions
