Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/196690 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12192
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We compare estimates of the effects of education on health and health behaviour using two different instrumental variables in the UK Biobank data. One is based on a conventional natural experiment while the other, known as Mendelian randomization (MR), is based on genetic variants. The natural experiment exploits a compulsory schooling reform in the UK in 1972 which involved raising the minimum school leaving age (RoSLA). MR exploits perturbations of germline genetic variation associated with educational attainment, which occur at conception. It has been widely used in epidemiology and clinical sciences. Under monotonicity, each IV identifies a LATE, with potentially different sets of compliers. The RoSLA affected the amount of education for those at the lower end of the ability distribution whereas MR affects individuals across the entire distribution. We find that estimates using each approach are remarkably congruent for a wide range of health outcomes. Effect sizes of additional years of education thus seem to be similar across the education distribution. Our study corroborates the usefulness of MR as a source of instrumental variation in education.
Subjects: 
returns to education
health
instrumental variables
RoSLA
genomic confounding
LATE
JEL: 
H52
I12
I21
I28
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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