Free Education in Childhood and Health Benefits in Adulthood: Evidence from China
利用中国家庭追踪调查数据和1986年义务教育法改革，发现接受免费义务教育的人成年后健康状况更好，且对城市和男性群体影响更大，机制包括教育水平、社会阶层、生活方式等。
This study investigates whether childhood education has a lasting causal effect on health using data from the China Family Panel Studies and assesses the Compulsory Education Law, implemented by the Chinese government in 1986 to provide free compulsory education for 9 years for children aged 6–15 years in primary and junior high schools, as a quasi-natural experiment. Employing a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find that people who received free compulsory education had better health status in adulthood, and this effect was more significant among urban and male groups. Further analysis shows that the free compulsory education policy has a significant positive impact on adult education level, social class, lifestyle, medical service utilization and healthcare expenditure, and living environment, which function as underlying mechanisms. In addition, we find that free compulsory education policy can reduce health inequality among adults.