Longevity and Education Externalities: A Macroeconomic Perspective

Résumé

We argue that education exerts positive external effects on health, beyond the standard internal effects documented in the literature. We put forward a model that clarifies the links between education and longevity in the presence of such an externality. We then implement an innovative approach to control for endogeneity problems, and present evidence for the significant role played by higher education in explaining longevity across countries. Our findings provide empirical evidence in support of our hypothesis of educational externalities on health.