Working Paper: NBER ID: w20764
Authors: Resul Cesur; Bahadir Dursun; Naci Mocan
Abstract: Although the impact of education on health is important for economic policy in developing countries, the overwhelming majority of research to identify the health returns to education has been done using data from developed countries. We use data from three waves of a nationally-representative health survey, conducted between 2008 and 2012 in Turkey, and exploit an education reform that increased the mandatory years of schooling from 5 to 8 years in 1997. Using exposure to the reform as an instrument for education, we find that for women ages 18-30, education has no impact on self-reported health, BMI, overweight, obesity, or on the propensity or intensity of smoking. Education does not influence women’s daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, or their propensity to get a flu shot either. The same results are obtained for men of the same age group with one exception: education increases men’s BMI and the propensity to be overweight and obese. Potential explanations for these findings are provided.
Keywords: education; health; Turkey; instrumental variables; health behavior
JEL Codes: I10; I12; I15; I21; I25; I26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Education reform in Turkey (I28) | Education (I29) |
| Education (I29) | Health outcomes (I14) |
| Education (I29) | Self-reported health (I10) |
| Education (I29) | BMI (women) (J16) |
| Education (I29) | Smoking behaviors (women) (I12) |
| Education (I29) | Consumption of fruits and vegetables (women) (D18) |
| Education (I29) | Self-reported health (men) (I12) |
| Education (I29) | Smoking behaviors (men) (I12) |
| Education (I29) | BMI (men) (L83) |
| Education (I29) | Propensity to be overweight or obese (men) (I12) |