Testing for Changes in the SES-Mortality Gradient When the Distribution of Education Changes Too / Thomas Goldring, Fabian Lange, Seth Richards-Shubik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldring, Thomas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Lange, Fabian.

Richards-Shubik, Seth.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20993.

NBER working paper series no. w20993

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

We develop a flexible test for changes in the SES-mortality gradient over time that directly accounts for changes in the distribution of education, the most commonly used marker of SES. We implement the test for the period between 1984 and 2006 using microdata from the Census, CPS, and NHIS linked to death records. Using our flexible test, we find that the evidence for a change in the education-mortality gradient is not as strong and universal as previous research has suggested. Our results indicate that the gradient increased for females during this time period, but we cannot rule out that the gradient among males has not changed. Informally, the results suggest that the changes for females are mainly driven by the bottom of the education distribution.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2015.