Economists have long realized that schooling and good health are strongly positively correlated. Some conclude that schooling has a direct positive effect on the production of good health while others argue that some unobserved variable such as rate of time discount positively affects both...

In virtually every study by economists considering the determinants of an individual's health, years of schooling has stood out as an important regressor. Yet there is little agreement among economists concerning the mechanisms through which schooling affects health. This study is a first...