The Long-Term Cognitive and Schooling Effects of Childhood Vaccinations in China

29 Pages Posted: 26 May 2020 Last revised: 15 May 2022

See all articles by Hamid Oskorouchi

Hamid Oskorouchi

University of Goettingen (Göttingen)

Alfonso Sousa-Poza

University of Hohenheim - Institute of Household and Consumer Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

David E. Bloom

Harvard University - T.H. Chan School of Public Health; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Date Written: May 2020

Abstract

By exploiting rich retrospective data on childhood immunization, socioeconomics, and health status in China (the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), we assess the long-term effects of childhood vaccination on cognitive and educational outcomes in that country. To do so, we apply various techniques (e.g., propensity score and coarsened exact matching and correlated random effects) to different sets of conditioning variables and subsamples to estimate the average treatment on the treated effect of childhood vaccination. Our results confirm that vaccinations before the age of 15 have long-term positive and economically meaningful effects on nonhealth outcomes such as education and cognitive skills. These effects are relatively strong, with vaccinated individuals enjoying about one more year of schooling and performing substantially better later in life on several cognitive tests.

Suggested Citation

Oskorouchi, Hamid and Sousa-Poza, Alfonso and Bloom, David E., The Long-Term Cognitive and Schooling Effects of Childhood Vaccinations in China (May 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w27217, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3609669

Hamid Oskorouchi (Contact Author)

University of Goettingen (Göttingen)

Alfonso Sousa-Poza

University of Hohenheim - Institute of Household and Consumer Economics ( email )

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David E. Bloom

Harvard University - T.H. Chan School of Public Health ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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