Hansen Casper Worm
Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business, Fuglesangs Allé 4, 8210 Aarhus V, Denmark.
J Health Econ. 2013 Dec;32(6):1142-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.09.011. Epub 2013 Oct 4.
Exploiting preintervention variation in mortality from various infectious diseases, together with the time variation arising from medical breakthroughs in the late 1940s and the 1950s, this study examines how a large positive shock to life expectancy influenced the formation of human capital within countries during the second half of the 20th century. The results establish that the rise in life expectancy was behind a significant part of the increase in human capital over this period. According to the baseline estimate, for one additional year of life expectancy, years of schooling increase by 0.17 year. Moreover, the evidence suggests that declines in pneumonia mortality are the underlying cause of this finding, indicating that improved childhood health increases human capital investments.
利用各种传染病死亡率在干预前的变化，以及20世纪40年代末和50年代医学突破所带来的时间变化，本研究考察了预期寿命的大幅正向冲击如何影响20世纪下半叶各国人力资本的形成。结果表明，这一时期预期寿命的提高是人力资本增加的重要原因。根据基线估计，预期寿命每增加一岁，受教育年限增加0.17年。此外，证据表明肺炎死亡率的下降是这一发现的根本原因，表明儿童健康状况的改善增加了人力资本投资。
