Working Paper: NBER ID: w27512
Authors: Adam Leive; Christopher J. Ruhm
Abstract: We examine whether the least educated population groups experienced the worst mortality trends during the 21st century by measuring changes in mortality across education quartiles. We document sharply differing gender patterns. Among women, mortality trends improved fairly monotonically with education. Conversely, male trends for the lowest three education quartiles were often similar. For both sexes, the gap in average mortality between the top 25 percent and the bottom 75 percent is growing. However, there are many groups for whom these average patterns are reversed – with better experiences for the less educated – or where the differences are statistically indistinguishable.
Keywords: mortality; education; health disparities
JEL Codes: I10; I12; I24; J10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Least educated groups (I24) | Worst mortality trends (I12) |
| Top 25 percent of education (I24) | Bottom 75 percent mortality gap (I14) |
| Educational attainment (I21) | Mortality experiences (I12) |
| Gender (J16) | Mortality trends (I12) |
| Lower education quartiles (I24) | Larger mortality reductions (I14) |
| Educational attainment quartiles (I24) | Mortality trends (I12) |