The Effect of Schooling on Mortality: New Evidence From 50,000 Swedish Twins

• Published in: Demography Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 1135 - 1168
• Main Authors: Lundborg, Petter, Lyttkens, Carl Hampus, Nystedt, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Population Association of America (Springer) 01-08-2016; Springer US; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: Age; Age Factors; Age groups; Birth Weight; Body height; Cognition; Cognitive ability; Cognitive functioning; Correlation analysis; Demography; Economic development; Economic growth; Educational attainment; Educational Status; Equality; Estimates; Female; Fuel consumption; Genetics; Geography; Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; Health hazards; Health Sciences; Health Status; Humans; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; Influence; Life Expectancy; Life span; Longevity; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine/Public Health; Mortality; MORTALITY AND HEALTH; Mortality rates; Population Economics; Proportional Hazards Models; Reforms; Robust control; Schooling; Social Sciences; Sociology; Statistical analysis; Stratified partial likelihood; Studies; Sweden; Twins; Twins, Monozygotic - statistics & numerical data; Weight; Womens education; Sweden; Stratified partial likelihood; Longevity; Schooling; Twins; Mortality
• ISSN: 0070-3370; 1533-7790; 1533-7790
• DOI: 10.1007/s13524-016-0489-3

By using historical data on about 50,000 twins born in Sweden during 1886–1958, we demonstrate a positive and statistically significant relationship between years of schooling and longevity. This relation remains almost unchanged when exploiting a twin fixed-effects design to control for the influence of genetics and shared family background. This result is robust to controlling for within-twin-pair differences in early-life health and cognitive ability, as proxied by birth weight and height, as well as to restricting the sample to MZ twins. The relationship is fairly constant over time but becomes weaker with age. Literally, our results suggest that compared with low levels of schooling (less than 10 years), high levels of schooling (at least 13 years of schooling) are associated with about three years longer life expectancy at age 60 for the considered birth cohorts. The real societal value of schooling may hence extend beyond pure labor market and economic growth returns. From a policy perspective, schooling may therefore be a vehicle for improving longevity and health, as well as equality along these dimensions.