Schooling and Youth Mortality : Learning from a Mass Military Exemption
This paper examines the relationship between education and mortality in a young population of Italian males. In 1981 several cohorts of young men from specific southern towns were unexpectedly exempted from compulsory military service after a major...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110608135546 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3444 |
| Summary: | This paper examines the relationship
between education and mortality in a young population of
Italian males. In 1981 several cohorts of young men from
specific southern towns were unexpectedly exempted from
compulsory military service after a major quake hit the
region. Comparisons of exempt cohorts from the least damaged
towns on the border of the quake region with similar ones
from neighbouring non-exempt towns just outside the region
show that, by 1991, the cohorts exempted while still in high
school display significantly higher graduation rates. The
probability of dying over the decade 1991-2001 was also
significantly lower. Several robustness checks confirm that
the findings do not reflect omitted quake-related
confounding factors, such as the ensuing compensatory
interventions. Moreover, cohorts exempted soon after high
school age do not display higher schooling or lower
mortality rates, thus excluding that the main findings
reflect direct effects of military service on subsequent
mortality rather than a causal effect of schooling. The
authors conclude that increasing the proportion of high
school graduates by 1 percentage point leads to 0.1-0.2
percentage points lower mortality rates between the ages of
25 and 35. |
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