Education is a key determinant of health in Europe

A comparative analysis of 11 countries

Datos Bibliográficos

ID22944690
AutoresCecilia Albert (0000-0002-6805-3526, Universidad de Alcalá), María A Davia (0000-0001-9551-6111, University of Castilla-La Mancha, autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen26
Número2
Páginas163-170
Fecha de publicación2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHealth Promotion International (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0957-4824 • E-ISSN: 1460-2245
EditorialOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/heapro/daq059
PMID20935091
OpenAlexW2139728324
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas28

This paper has contributed to confirming the link between education and health in developed countries. The analysis is based on 11 European Union countries. We estimate country-specific health functions, where the dependent variable is self-reported health status and the education attainment is one of the main inputs. All eight waves (1994-2001) of the European Community Household Panel are deployed. A random effects ordered probit is estimated in order to control, to a given extent, for unobserved heterogeneity. Explanatory variables are both time invariant (education attainment and gender) and time varying (gross wages, hours of work, age and living alone). Results confirm the positive impact of secondary education on health in most cases and tertiary education in all cases, even after controlling for other inputs in the health function and taking unobserved heterogeneity into account. Secondary education has an impact on health in all countries in the sample except for The Netherlands and UK. The effect does not differ between secondary and tertiary education in France, Ireland and Greece. The correlation between education and health is interpreted in different but complementary ways by diverse approaches and we may not disentangle the precise mechanism that connects health with education from our results. Anyway, it seems clear that better coordination is needed between education and health policies to effectively improve health literacy. Other relevant results from our study are that women register poorer health than men, age contributes to worsening health status and wages contribute positively to health.

Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · European union · Health care · Health education · Instrumental variable · Ordered probit · Probit model · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global Health Care Issues · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine