Impact of Adults’ College Completion on their Parents’ Mortality: Evidence from the 1993 Korean Higher Education Reform
NBER Working Papers · 2026 · Ah-Reum Lee、William H. Dow、Jacqueline M. Torres
中文摘要
大量文献考察了大学教育的经济回报与健康回报。本文研究子女教育对父母死亡率的向上代际效应，拓展了这一文献。我们利用韩国1993年高等教育改革，估计该改革使1974—1983年出生队列中最年长子女完成大学教育的比例，相较于此前十年的出生队列提高了13个百分点。利用韩国老龄化纵向研究的数据，简约式估计表明，最年长子女属于受改革影响出生队列的父母，其死亡率下降了27%（标准误为10%）。由于该改革影响了大学教育的完成情况，但未影响其他教育层级或教育质量，我们将其作为子女完成大学教育的工具变量（IV）。IV估计表明，对于因改革而得以完成大学教育的子女，其父母的死亡率下降了20%（标准误为7%）。这些父母获得了子女更多的经济支持，与子女的联系也更多，吸烟更少，身体活动更多，尽管这些机制只能解释死亡率下降所带来益处的一小部分。简约式分析显示，女儿的父母所受到的效应更大，但IV估计结果按子女性别划分的差异并不具有统计显著性。未来研究应进一步探究子女大学教育影响父母死亡率的机制。
Abstract
A large literature examines the economic and health returns to college education. We extend this literature by studying the upward intergenerational effects of children’s education on parental mortality. We exploit Korea’s 1993 Higher Education Reform, which we estimate raised college completion by 13 percentage points among eldest children in the 1974–1983 birth cohorts relative to the prior 10-year cohort. Using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, reduced-form estimates indicate a 27% (s.e.=10%) reduction in mortality among parents whose oldest child was in the reform-affected cohort. Because the reform affected college completion but not other education levels or quality, we use it as an instrumental variable (IV) for child college completion. IV estimates indicate a 20% (s.e.=7%) reduction in parental mortality for children induced to complete college by the reform. These parents received greater financial support and contact from their children and had lower smoking and higher physical activity, although these mechanisms explain only a small share of the mortality benefit. Effects were larger for parents of daughters in reduced-form analyses, although IV estimates did not differ significantly by child gender. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms through which children’s college education affects parental mortality.