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The Relationship between Forgone Health Care and High School Dropout: Evidence from US Adolescents

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  • Migali, G,;
  • Zucchelli, E,;

Abstract

High school dropout is an important policy issue and its determinants are a longstanding interest of economics. However, very little is known on the roles of noncognitive traits in influencing school dropoutdecisions. We employ voluntary forgone health care as a proxy for the underlying noncognitive traits that may induce adolescents to drop out and estimate its effects on early school attrition. We exploit data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and employ a series of flexible specifications with school fixed effects and cohort effects. Our models account for well-established determinants of dropout, including individual and parental characteristics, together with personality traits. Forgone health care consistently appears to be a statistically significant and substantial predictor of dropout among adolescents. We suggest that forgone health care could be used as a signalling device for policy makers targeting potential high school dropouts.

Suggested Citation

  • Migali, G,; & Zucchelli, E,;, 2015. "The Relationship between Forgone Health Care and High School Dropout: Evidence from US Adolescents," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/01, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    • Handle: RePEc:yor:hectdg:15/01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    forgone health care; high school dropout; Add Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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