Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/278998 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16300
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Is the education-health gradient inflated because both education and health are associated with unobserved socio-emotional skills? Revisiting the literature, we find that the gradient is reduced by 30-45% by fine-grained personality facets and Locus of Control. Traditional aggregated Big-Five scales, in contrast, have a much smaller and mostly insignificant contribution to the gradient. We decompose the gradient into its components with an order-invariant method, and use sibling-fixed effects to address that much of the observed education-health gradient reflects associations rather than causal relationships. There are education-health gradients even within sibling pairs; personality facets reduce these gradients by 30% or more. Our analyses use an extraordinarily large survey (N=28,261) linked to high-quality administrative registers with information on SES background and objective health outcomes.
Subjects: 
inequality
Health-Education Gradient
personality
Big Five-2 Inventory
sibling fixed effects
JEL: 
I14
I12
I24
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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