Does increased schooling improve and equalise health? Results from two quasi-experiments in Sweden

Does increased schooling improve and equalise health? Results from two quasi-experiments in Sweden

This study examines the causal impact of years of schooling on health and health inequality exploiting two Swedish school reforms that increase compulsory years of schooling from 7 to 8 or from 7 to 9 years as quasi-experiments. While the first reform is a pure extension of the compulsory years of education the latter additionally changed the school system to a comprehensive school system. We utilise health data from both population based registers and a large survey dataset to investigate the impact on the level of health and socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, health utility, bad health and smoking, mental health, cancer and obesity.