Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/280901 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Publisher: 
ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the causal relationship between education and mental health in Turkey. We rely on the quasi-experimental setting created by the 1997 compulsory education reform that raised the compulsory years of schooling from five to eight years. Using regression discontinuity design, we use the birth year to indicate reform exposure and identify the causal effects of longer years of schooling on mental health. Our results demonstrate a sizable negative impact of education on the mental health scale. We present evidence that the reform had a more adverse effect on men's mental health. There is also heterogeneity by the place of residence, as the longer school years led people who live in urban areas to experience worse mental health outcomes. By investigating possible mechanisms, we show that those with at least a middle school education did not invest more in their health than those without a middle school diploma. We explain the evidence for the adverse effects of education on mental health, especially experienced by those who face higher competition in the labor market, by the lack of an increase in household income despite the longer years in school.
Subjects: 
mental health
MHI-5
regression discontinuity design
compulsory schooling law
education policy
Turkey
JEL: 
I12
I26
I28
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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