Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/260234 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2018:5
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
This paper estimates the impact of university education on medical care use and its income related inequality. We do this by exploiting an arbitrary university eligibility rule in Sweden combined with regression discontinuity design for the years 2003-2013 for students who graduated 2003-2005. We find a clear jump in university attendance due to university eligibility. This jump coincides with a positive jump in prescriptions for contraceptives for females but also a positive jump in mental health related hospital admissions for males. Analysis of the inequality impact of tertiary eligibility finds no clear impact on medical care use by socioeconomic status of the parents. The results imply that easing access to university for the lower ability student will lead to an increase in contraceptive use without increasing its socioeconomic related inequality. At the same time, the results highlight that universities may need to do more to take care of the mental health of their least able students.
Subjects: 
Health returns to education
demand for medical care
causes of health inequality
Regression Discontinuity Design
Concentration Index
JEL: 
I12
I14
I26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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