Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71701 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7286
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of life expectancy for optimal schooling and lifetime labor supply. The results of a simple prototype Ben-Porath model with age-specific survival rates show that an increase in lifetime labor supply is not a necessary, nor a sufficient, condition for greater life expectancy to increase optimal schooling. The observed increase in survival rates during working ages that follows from the rectangularization of the survival function is crucial for schooling and labor supply. The empirical results suggest that the relative benefits of schooling have been increasing across cohorts of US men born 1840-1930. A simple quantitative analysis shows that a realistic shift in the survival function can lead to an increase in schooling and a reduction in lifetime labor hours.
Subjects: 
longevity
life expectancy
schooling
lifetime labor supply
rectangularization of the survival function
JEL: 
E20
J22
J24
J26
O11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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