Individual educational attainment is a robust correlate of good health behaviors and outcomes as shown in many studies. However, the association between schooling and health is still not fully understood.1 Economic theories on the relationship between these variables generally fall into one of three broad categories.2 Building on the influential work of Grossman [1972, 2000], the first strand of the literature proposes a causal relationship from schooling to health outcomes. Another group of papers focuses on causality running in the opposite direction, from health to schooling.3 A third set of papers contend that schooling and health are only spuriously correlated.
In a widely cited study, Farrell and Fuchs [1986 [1982]] document a negative relationship between individuals’ smoking behavior and their educational attainment at age 24. Interestingly, this correlation is fully accounted for by smoking differences at age 17.