Leandro Carvalho (University of Southern California)
| Dates: | 27 October 2016 |
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| Times: | 16:15 - 17:45 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Speaker: | Leandro S. Carvalho |
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Heterogeneous Effects of Education on Health
Silvia Helena Barcellos, Leandro Carvalho and Patrick Turley
Abstract
Education and health have been shown to be strongly associated in many periods and countries and for a wide range of health measures. Nevertheless, the role of education as a determinant of health is still debated. In this paper we investigate the hypothesis that education has heterogeneous effects on health, affecting individuals from different health and genetic backgrounds differently. To overcome the endogeneity of education we exploit a natural experiment, England’s Raising of School Leaving Age Order of 1972 (ROSLA) which increased the minimum school-leaving age from 15 to 16 years. We find that the increase in educational attainment caused by the ROSLA affected body mass index (BMI) 40 years later, when the affected cohort was approximately 55 years old. Importantly, effects were largest in the right tail of the BMI distribution. Using a genetic predictor of BMI, we also find that those with higher genetic risk of obesity see smaller BMI reductions as a result of the increase in compulsory schooling while large reductions are seen in those with low genetic risk. Taken together our results point to the importance of considering heterogeneity when estimating the impacts of education on health.
Speaker
Leandro S. Carvalho
Role: Assistant Professor of Economics
Organisation: University of Southern California
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G7
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
