Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/277752 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
DICE Discussion Paper No. 406
Publisher: 
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Düsseldorf
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the causal effect of education on life satisfaction, exploring effect heterogeneity along employment status. We use exogenous variation in compulsory schooling requirements and the build-up of new, academically more demanding schools, shifting educational attainment along the entire distribution of schooling. Leveraging plant closures and longitudinal information, we also address the endogeneity of employment status. We find a positive effect of education on life satisfaction for employed individuals, but a negative one for those without a job. We propose an aspiration-augmented utility function as a unifying explanation for the asymmetric effect of education on life satisfaction.
Subjects: 
Education
Life satisfaction
Employment status
Compulsory schooling reforms
School openings
Instrumental variable estimation
JEL: 
I26
I31
C26
ISBN: 
978-3-86304-405-3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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