The effect of education on old age cognitive abilities: evidence from a Regression Discontinuity design

We exploit the change to the minimum school-leaving age in the England, Scotland andWales from 14 to 15 using a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effect of onemore year of education on cognitive abilities at older ages. We find a large and significant effectof this reform on males' memory and executive functioning measured using simple cognitive testsfrom the English Longitudinal Survey on Ageing (ELSA). This result is particularly remarkablesince the 1947 reform had a powerful and immediate effect on about half the population of14-year-olds. We investigate and discuss the potential channels by which this reform may havehad its effects, as well as carrying out a full set of sensitivity analyses and robustness checks.     «

We exploit the change to the minimum school-leaving age in the England, Scotland andWales from 14 to 15 using a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effect of onemore year of education on cognitive abilities at older ages. We find a large and significant effectof this reform on males' memory and executive functioning measured using simple cognitive testsfrom the English Longitudinal Survey on Ageing (ELSA). This result is particularly remarkablesince the 1947 reform had a power...     »