The long-term health consequences of expanding access to higher education

Abstract

This study examines whether increasing young individuals’ access to higher education by creating and expanding higher education institutions affects their survival or mental health, or those of their parents. Our quasi-experimental analysis leverages changes in access to university resulting from the geographical expansion of the Finnish university system in the 1960s and 1970s. The results suggest that greater access to university for 19-year-olds reduces their probability of mental health-related hospitalization and drug use while also generating positive spillovers on their mothers’ longevity. However, we do not find strong effects on individuals’ early mortality, fathers’ old-age survival or parental mental health.