The Effects of Education on Health and the Economy (Summary)

My research topic is on the effects of education on health and the economy. My sources, a general interest periodical, a scholarly journal, an internet source, and a source of my choosing all deal with this topic, and have specific focuses. Research and many studies have shown education to be a great influential and unique predictor of the outcome of peoples’ health. Lower levels of education are related to poor health and higher levels of education are related to better health. Mortality rates for certain diseases, the amount of people who smoke cigarettes, the rates at which excess body weight have increased, the death rate from motor vehicle crashes, and low birth rate and infant mortality are all related to the amount of education a person has received. For example, the number of people who smoked cigarettes significantly declined between 1974 and 1955. By 1955, however people who did not complete high school were more than two times more likely to smoke than those who at least completed college (Marnot, pars. 1,2,4).

This association between education and health has been observed throughout many time periods and many different countries for a wide variety of health measures. In 1999, the mortality rate of high school dropouts ages twenty five to sixty four was more than twice as large as the mortality rate as those with some college. The health returns to education can outweigh the financial returns. Estimates suggest that a year of education increases earnings by approximately ten percent or eighty thousand dollars over the course of a lifetime. Data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study shows that one additional year of education increases life expectancy by 0.6 years without any discounting (Cutler and Adriana, p. 1). Also, the magazine article that I found shows that the effect of lower education levels was stronger than that of income for both depression, and obesity. The study showed that lower family income accounted for twenty six percent of depression and thirty two percent of obesity among teens. However, lower parental education accounted for forty percent of depression and thirty nine percent of obesity. (Goodman, pars.6-7)

It has also been shown that education could greatly improve not only health but the economy. In an analysis of the effects of education on health care costs, researchers estimated that Oklahoma would save one hundred thirty million dollars in lifetime health costs if every student in the class of 2005-2006 graduated from high school. Those in poor health are less likely to find high paying jobs with good health benefits, and have more difficulty attaining healthcare (Pearson, pars. 3,17).

Besides facts, my first source includes an interview on the pathways through which education would exert an effect on health. My second source was presented at the National Poverty Center and I believe it is my most valuable source. This is because it includes theories and evidence. It also debates and questions the theories, and includes surveys, figures, tables, graphs, statistics and findings from many different broad studies. My third source from a magazine article gives numbers mostly relating to only a specific topic health affected, depression and obesity. The last was found through a database and gives numbers relating education to health and the improvement of the economy.