Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114012 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9141
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
One of the most robust findings in health economics is that higher-educated individuals tend to be in better health. This paper tests whether health disparities across education are to some extent due to differences in reporting error across education. We test this hypothesis using data from the pooled National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Continuous for 1999-2012, which include both self-reports and objective verification for an extensive set of health behaviors and conditions, including smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. We find that better educated individuals report their health more accurately. This is true for a wide range of behaviors and conditions, even socially stigmatized ones like smoking and obesity. Differential reporting error across education leads to underestimates of the true health disparities across education that average 19.3%.
Subjects: 
health
education
disparities
reporting error
JEL: 
I1
I12
I14
I20
I24
I3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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