The Effects of Education on Health: An Intergenerational Perspective

Abstract

This paper presents evidence of causal effects of parental education on children’s health behaviors and long-term health. I study intergenerational effects of a compulsory schooling increase in Germany, exploiting the staggered introduction of the reform with difference-in-differences models and event studies. Maternal schooling reduces children’s smoking and being overweight in adolescence. The effects persist into adulthood, reducing chronic conditions that often result from unhealthy lifestyles. I find no effects of paternal schooling. Increased maternal investments in children’s education and associated improvements in children’s peer environment at a critical age for initiating unhealthy behaviors are possible effect channels.