Causal effect of children’s secondary education on parental health outcomes: findings from a natural experiment in Botswana

• Published in: BMJ open 2021-01, Vol.11 (1), p.e043247-e043247
• Main Authors: Ludwig, Jan Ole, Davies, Neil M, Bor, Jacob, De Neve, Jan-Walter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age; Botswana; Child; Children & youth; Citizenship; Diabetic retinopathy; Education reform; Educational Status; Epidemiology; Experiments; Families & family life; Fathers; Female; health economics; HIV; Households; Human capital; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Male; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Parents & parenting; Population; Public health; Secondary education; Secondary schools
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043247

ObjectivesA growing literature highlights the intergenerational transmission of human capital from parents to children. However, far less is known about ‘upward transmission’ from children to parents. In this study, we use a 1996 Botswana education policy reform as a natural experiment to identify the causal effect of children’s secondary schooling on their parents’ health.SettingBotswana’s decennial census (2001 and 2011). Data were obtained through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and are 10% random samples of the complete population in each of these census years.ParticipantsSurvey respondents who were citizens born in Botswana, at least 18 years old at the time of the census and born in or after 1975 (n=89 721).Primary and secondary outcome measuresParental survival and disability at the time of the census, separately for mothers and fathers.ResultsThe 1996 reform caused a large increase in grade 10 enrolment, inducing an additional 0.4 years of schooling for the first cohorts affected (95% CI 0.3 to 0.5, p