Education, Cognitive Ability and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Structural Approach

Abstract

Education is negatively associated with mortality for most major causes of death. The literature ignores that cause-specific hazard rates are interdependent and that education and mortality both depend on cognitive ability. We analyze the education-mortality gradient at ages 18-63 using Swedish register data. We focus on months lost due to a specific cause of death which solves the interdependence problem, and use a structural model that derives cognitive ability from military conscription IQ scores. In a standard Cox model that controls for observed IQ, primary education was associated with 6 months lost when compared to secondary education. In a structural model that accounts for cognitive ability the difference was 43% larger. This suggest that conventional Cox regression analyses may be biased. The largest educational gains were achieved for the lowest education group in the reduction of external cause mortality.

Keywords: cause-specific mortality, causal effect of education, cognitive ability

JEL Classification: C41, I14, I24