The Impact of Education on Mortality: Evidence from a Compulsory Education Reform∗

A negative relation between schooling and health have been observed by social scientists. However, these associations may not necessarily represent a causal effect due to the presence of omitted variables or reverse causality from health to education. Taking advantage of a compulsory education reform in Taiwan, we attempt to identify the impact of education on health, as measured by mortality. The data used in this research come from the 2000 Population Census and the 1999–2008 death records of Taiwan, where there was an extension of compulsory education from six to nine years. We find that education does have an impact on mortality for men, but not for women.