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ERIC Number: ED530655
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Aug
Pages: 52
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: ISBN-0-7530-2018-1
ISSN: ISSN-2045-6557
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Sheepskin or Prozac? The Causal Effect of Education on Mental Health. CEE DP 71
Chevalier, Arnaud; Feinstein, Leon
Centre for the Economics of Education (NJ1)
Mental illness is associated with large costs to individuals and society. Education improves various health outcomes but little work has been done on mental illness. To obtain unbiased estimates of the effect of education on mental health, we rely on a rich longitudinal dataset that contains health information from childhood to adulthood and thus allow us to control for fixed effects in mental health. We measure two health outcomes: malaise score and depression and estimate the extensive and intensive margins of education on mental health using various estimators. For all estimators, accounting for the endogeneity of education augments its protecting effect on mental health. We find that the effect of education is greater at mid-level of qualifications, for women and for individuals at greater risk of mental illness. The effects of education are observed at all ages, additionally education also reduces the transition to depression. These results suggest substantial returns to education in term of improved mental health. Annexed are: (1) Malaise Score-- Proportion of Individuals with a Given Ailment Over Time; and (2) Malaise Score and Self-Reported Measure of Mental Health. (Contains 12 tables, 8 figures and 21 footnotes.)
Centre for the Economics of Education. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel: +44-20-7955-7673; Fax: +44-20-7955-7595; e-mail: cee@lse.ac.uk; Web site: http://cee.lse.ac.uk
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Department for Education and Skills
Authoring Institution: London School of Economics & Political Science, Centre for the Economics of Education
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A