Working Paper: NBER ID: w19222
Authors: Kasey Buckles; Andreas Hagemann; Ofer Malamud; Melinda S. Morrill; Abigail K. Wozniak
Abstract: We exploit exogenous variation in college completion induced by draft-avoidance behavior during the Vietnam War to examine the impact of college completion on adult mortality. Our preferred estimates imply that increasing college completion rates from the level of the state with the lowest induced rate to the highest would decrease cumulative mortality by 28 percent relative to the mean. Most of the reduction in mortality is from deaths due to cancer and heart disease. We also explore potential mechanisms, including differential earnings, health insurance, and health behaviors, using data from the Census, ACS, and NHIS.
Keywords: college education; health; mortality; Vietnam War; draft avoidance
JEL Codes: I12; I23; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| college completion (I23) | adult mortality (I12) |
| college completion (I23) | cancer mortality (I12) |
| college completion (I23) | diabetes mortality (I12) |
| college completion (I23) | stroke mortality (I12) |
| college completion (I23) | chronic low respiratory conditions mortality (I12) |
| college completion (I23) | differential earnings (J31) |
| college completion (I23) | health insurance access (I13) |
| college completion (I23) | health behaviors (I12) |