Volume 24, Number 3 (Summer) 1989
Berger, Mark C. and J. Paul Leigh. 1989. "Schooling, Self-Selection, and Health." Journal of Human Resources 24(3):433-455.
Economists have long realized that schooling and good health are strongly positively correlated. Some conclude that schooling has a direct positive effect on the production of good health while others argue that some unobserved variable such as rate of time discount positively affects both health and schooling. This study investigates the validity of alternative explanations for the observed schooling-health correlation. Models are estimated using four different measures of overall health: disability, functional limitations, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The results uniformly indicate that the direct effect of schooling on health is more important than the effect of unobservables.
Mark C. Berger is a professor of economics at the University of Kentucky. J. Paul Leigh is a professor of economics at San Jose State University. They wish to thank Kim Balls, John Garen, Linda Edwards, Michael Grossman, Don Kenkel, Jean Mitchell, and anonymous referee, and participants at workshops at the University of Kentucky and the University of Chicago. This research was supported in part with funds from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. RII-8610671) and the Commonwealth of Kentucky through the Kentucky EPSCoR Program. Support was also provided by National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Grant No. SSP1 R01 HL38448-01. Preliminary research was supported by a Summer Research Grant from the College of Business and Economics of the University of Kentucky. The grant was made possible by a donation of funds to the College by Ashland Oil, Inc. Michael Sheetz and Mike Alexander provided excellent research assistance.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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