IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/29328.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mortality Rates by College Degree Before and During COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Anne Case
  • Angus Deaton

Abstract

It is now established that mortality and excess mortality from COVID-19 differed across racial and ethnic groups in 2020. Less is known about educational differences in mortality during the pandemic. We examine mortality rates by BA status within sex, age, and race/ethnic groups comparing 2020 with 2019. Mortality rates have increasingly differed by BA status in the US in recent years and there are good reasons to expect the gap to have widened further during the pandemic. Using publicly available provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics we find that mortality rates increased in 2020 over 2019 for those with and without a BA, irrespective of age, sex, or race/ethnicity. Although mortality rates increased by more for those without a BA, the ratio of mortality rates for those with and without a BA changed surprisingly little from 2019 to 2020. The BA was protective against mortality prior to the pandemic, and it was equally protective during the pandemic. Among 60 groups (sex by race/ethnicity by age) that are available in the data, the ratio of mortality rates of those without a BA to those with a BA fell for more than half of the groups. Our results suggest that differences in the risk of infection were less important in structuring mortality by education than differences in the risk of death conditional on infection.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2021. "Mortality Rates by College Degree Before and During COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 29328, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29328
    Note: AG ED EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w29328.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Theresa Andrasfay & Noreen Goldman, 2021. "Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(5), pages 2014746118-, February.
    2. Francine D. Blau & Josefine Koebe & Pamela A. Meyerhofer, 2021. "Who are the essential and frontline workers?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 168-178, July.
    3. Isaac Sasson, 2021. "Age and COVID-19 mortality: A comparison of Gompertz doubling time across countries and causes of death," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(16), pages 379-396.
    4. Jeffrey E. Harris, 2020. "The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City," NBER Working Papers 27021, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Marcella Alsan & Amitabh Chandra & Kosali Simon, 2021. "The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 25-46, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amy Finkelstein & Geoffrey Kocks & Maria Polyakova & Victoria Udalova, 2022. "Heterogeneity in Damages from A Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 30658, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. John Komlos, 2022. "Running the U.S. Economy at Full Throttle Is a Stressful Variant of Capitalism," CESifo Working Paper Series 9966, CESifo.
    3. Adriana Lleras‐Muney, 2022. "Education and income gradients in longevity: The role of policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 5-37, February.
    4. Angus Deaton, 2022. "The great divide: education, despair, and death," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 161-168, October.
    5. Lisa Josefin Norrgren, 2023. "The highly educated live longer: The role of time preference, cognitive ability, and educational plans," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1767-1784, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katherine Leggat-Barr & Fumiya Uchikoshi & Noreen Goldman, 2021. "COVID-19 risk factors and mortality among Native Americans," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(39), pages 1185-1218.
    2. Kairon Shayne D. Garcia & Benjamin W. Cowan, 2024. "Childcare Responsibilities and Parental Labor Market Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 153-200, June.
    3. Marcella Alsan & Amitabh Chandra & Kosali Simon, 2021. "The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 25-46, Summer.
    4. Max Nathan, 2023. "Critical Commentary: The city and the virus," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(8), pages 1346-1364, June.
    5. Anneliese N. Luck & Irma T. Elo & Samuel H. Preston & Eugenio Paglino & Katherine Hempstead & Andrew C. Stokes, 2023. "COVID-19 and All-Cause Mortality by Race, Ethnicity, and Age Across Five Periods of the Pandemic in the United States," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-29, August.
    6. Jeffrey E. Harris, 2020. "Geospatial Analysis of the September 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak at the University of Wisconsin – Madison: Did a Cluster of Local Bars Play a Critical Role?," NBER Working Papers 28132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. de Palma, André & Vosough, Shaghayegh & Liao, Feixiong, 2022. "An overview of effects of COVID-19 on mobility and lifestyle: 18 months since the outbreak," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 372-397.
    8. Matthias Dütsch, 2022. "COVID-19 and the labour market: What are the working conditions in critical jobs?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Chad Cotti & Bryan Engelhardt & Joshua Foster & Erik Nesson & Paul Niekamp, 2021. "The relationship between in‐person voting and COVID‐19: Evidence from the Wisconsin primary," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(4), pages 760-777, October.
    10. Borsati, Mattia & Nocera, Silvio & Percoco, Marco, 2022. "Questioning the spatial association between the initial spread of COVID-19 and transit usage in Italy," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. Andrés Gómez-Lobo & Mauro Gutiérrez & Sandro Huamaní & Diego Marino & Tomás Serebrisky & Ben Solís, 2024. "Access to water and COVID-19: a regression discontinuity analysis for the peri-urban areas of metropolitan Lima, Peru," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 52-79, January.
    12. Huayan Pei & Guanghui Yan & Yaning Huang, 2023. "Impact of contact rate on epidemic spreading in complex networks," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 96(4), pages 1-7, April.
    13. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig, 2023. "Spatial networks and the spread of COVID-19: results and policy implications from Germany," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 43(1), pages 1-27, April.
    14. Lawrence A. Palinkas & Jessenia De Leon & Erika Salinas & Sonali Chu & Katharine Hunter & Timothy M. Marshall & Eric Tadehara & Christopher M. Strnad & Jonathan Purtle & Sarah McCue Horwitz & Mary M. , 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy and Practice Implementation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Cafferata, Alessia & Cerruti, Gianluca & Mazzone, Giulio, 2023. "Taxation, health system endowment and institutional quality: ‘Social media’ perceptions across Europe," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 224-243.
    16. Johannes S. Kunz & Carol Propper, 2022. "Is Hospital Quality Predictive of Pandemic Deaths? Evidence from US Counties," Papers 2022-01, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    17. Kimberly M. Horner & Elizabeth Wrigley-Field & Jonathon P. Leider, 2022. "A First Look: Disparities in COVID-19 Mortality Among US-Born and Foreign-Born Minnesota Residents," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 465-478, April.
    18. Jakina Debnam Guzman & Marie Christelle Mabeu & Roland Pongou, 2021. "Identity During a Pandemic: COVID-19 and Ethnic Divisions in the United States," Working Papers 2101E Classification-I14,, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    19. Laroze, Denise & Neumayer, Eric & Plümper, Thomas, 2021. "COVID-19 does not stop at open borders: Spatial contagion among local authority districts during England's first wave," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    20. Ján Palguta & René Levínský & Samuel Škoda, 2022. "Do elections accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 197-240, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29328. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.