We go beyond estimating the effect of college education on longevity by uncovering the mechanisms behind this effect while controlling for latent skills and unobserved heterogeneity. We decompose the effect with respect to a large set of potential mechanisms, including health behaviors, lifestyles, earnings, and work conditions. On the basis of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, we show that the effect of education on longevity is well explained by observed mechanisms. Furthermore, we find that for women, the positive effect of education on longevity has been historically masked by the negative effect of education on marriage. We discuss implications for longevity and health inequality.

中文翻译：

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了解将大学教育与长寿联系起来的机制

通过发现控制潜在技能和未观察到的异质性的机制，我们发现了高校教育对长寿的影响，而不仅限于此。我们针对一系列潜在机制（包括健康行为，生活方式，收入和工作条件）分解影响。根据威斯康星州纵向调查的数据，我们表明，观察到的机制很好地说明了教育对长寿的影响。此外，我们发现，对于妇女而言，教育对长寿的积极影响在历史上已被婚姻对婚姻的消极影响所掩盖。我们讨论对寿命和健康不平等的影响。