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The health-schooling relationship: Evidence from Swedish twins

Nilsson, Anton LU ; Rooth, Dan-Olof LU and Lundborg, Petter LU (2016) In Journal of Population Economics 29(4). p.1191-1215
Abstract
Health and education are known to be highly correlated, but the mechanisms behind the relationship are not well understood. In particular, there is sparse evidence on whether adolescent health may influence educational attainment. Using a large registry dataset of twins, including comprehensive information on health status at the age of 18 and later educational attainment, we investigate whether health predicts final education within monozygotic (identical) twin pairs. We find no evidence of this and conclude that health in adolescence may not have an influence on the level of schooling. Instead, raw correlations between adolescent health and schooling appear to be driven by genes and twin-pair-specific environmental factors.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
TwinsTwin-fixed effects, Education, Health Specific conditions, I10, I24, I21, I14
in
Journal of Population Economics
volume
29
issue
4
pages
1191 - 1215
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:84969190699
  • wos:000380271300008
ISSN
0933-1433
DOI
10.1007/s00148-016-0598-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0b1449de-9b7c-4873-b0d6-ba5c49b6c2df
date added to LUP
2016-09-21 10:13:33
date last changed
2022-02-21 20:34:41
@article{0b1449de-9b7c-4873-b0d6-ba5c49b6c2df,
  abstract     = {{Health and education are known to be highly correlated, but the mechanisms behind the relationship are not well understood. In particular, there is sparse evidence on whether adolescent health may influence educational attainment. Using a large registry dataset of twins, including comprehensive information on health status at the age of 18 and later educational attainment, we investigate whether health predicts final education within monozygotic (identical) twin pairs. We find no evidence of this and conclude that health in adolescence may not have an influence on the level of schooling. Instead, raw correlations between adolescent health and schooling appear to be driven by genes and twin-pair-specific environmental factors.}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Anton and Rooth, Dan-Olof and Lundborg, Petter}},
  issn         = {{0933-1433}},
  keywords     = {{TwinsTwin-fixed effects; Education; Health Specific conditions; I10; I24; I21; I14}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1191--1215}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of Population Economics}},
  title        = {{The health-schooling relationship: Evidence from Swedish twins}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00148-016-0598-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00148-016-0598-8}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}