Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245651 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14600
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We analyze data from the Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR), combined with the Socioeconomic Survey of Twins (SST), and new mortality data, and contribute to two bodies of literature. First, we demonstrate a beneficial causal effect of education on health and longevity in contrast to other twin-based studies of the US population, which show little or no effect of education on health. Second, we present evidence that parents compensate for differences in their children's health endowments through education, but find no evidence that parents reinforce differences in skill endowments. We argue that there is a bias towards detecting reinforcement both in this paper and in the literature. Despite this bias, we still find statistical evidence of compensating behavior. We account for observed and unobserved confounding factors, sample selection bias, and measurement error in education.
Subjects: 
Minnesota Twin Registry
twin study
health endowment
longevity
skill endowment
intrafamily resource allocation
education
health
JEL: 
I12
I14
I24
J13
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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