title: Does more schooling reduce hospitalization and delay mortality? New evidence based on Danish twins.
abstract: Schooling generally is positively associated with better health-related outcomes-for example, less hospitalization and later mortality-but these associations do not measure whether schooling causes better health-related outcomes. Schooling may in part be a proxy for unobserved endowments-including family background and genetics-that both are correlated with schooling and have direct causal effects on these outcomes. This study addresses the schooling-health-gradient issue with twins methodology, using rich data from the Danish Twin Registry linked to population-based registries to minimize random and systematic measurement error biases. We find strong, significantly negative associations between schooling and hospitalization and mortality, but generally no causal effects of schooling.
authors.affiliation: Economics and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, McNeil 160, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297, USA. jbehrman@econ.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Jere R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Behrman
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.forename: Vibeke Myrup
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Dorthe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bingley
authors.forename: Kaare
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic