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Accounting for the Widening Mortality Gap Between Adult Americans with and without a BA

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  • Anne Case
  • Angus Deaton

Abstract

We examine mortality differences between Americans with and without a four-year college degree over the period 1992 to 2021. From 1992 to 2010, both groups saw falling mortality, but with greater improvements for the more educated; from 2010 to 2019, mortality fell for those with a BA and rose for those without; from 2019 to 2021, mortality rose for both groups, but more rapidly for the less educated. In consequence, the mortality gap between the two groups rose in all three periods, unevenly until 2010, faster between 2010 to 2019, and explosively during the pandemic. The overall period saw dramatic changes in patterns of mortality, but gaps rose consistently, not only in all-cause mortality, but in each of thirteen broad classifications of cause of death. Gaps increased for causes of death whose rates have risen in the last thirty years, whose rates have fallen in the last thirty years, and whose rates fell and then rose. Gaps rose for causes where rates were originally higher for those without a BA, and where rates were originally lower for those without a BA. Although mechanisms and stories are different for each cause of death, the widening gap is seen throughout.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2023. "Accounting for the Widening Mortality Gap Between Adult Americans with and without a BA," NBER Working Papers 31236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31236
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2017. "Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(1 (Spring), pages 397-476.
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    4. Montez, J.K. & Zajacova, A., 2013. "Trends in mortality risk by education level and cause of death among US White Women from 1986 to 2006," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(3), pages 473-479.
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    7. Paul Novosad & Charlie Rafkin & Sam Asher, 2022. "Mortality Change among Less Educated Americans," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 1-34, October.
    8. Eduardo Arriaga, 1984. "Measuring and explaining the change in life expectancies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 21(1), pages 83-96, February.
    9. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2021. "Life expectancy in adulthood is falling for those without a BA degree, but as educational gaps have widened, racial gaps have narrowed," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(11), pages 2024777118-, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2023. "Were COVID and the Great Recession Well-Being Reducing?," IZA Discussion Papers 16355, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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