TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Costa-Font, Joan
AU  - Nicinska, Anna
        TI  - Long Lasting Health Effects of Soviet Education
        PY  - 2025/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18304
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18304
        AB  - Education systems serve various purposes, including the enhancement of later-life health, though its effect can differ by socio-political regime. This paper examines the effects of exposure to communist education, which exposed children to a distinct curcurriculum and ideological content on later-life health. We exploit a novel dataset that collects information on compulsory education reforms in several European countries, with different cohorts exposed and unexposed to Soviet communist education. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we show that while the extension of compulsory education improved some relevant measures of health, communist education encompassed an additional health-enhancing effect. We document that the effect remains robust when using staggered DiD approaches and various robustness tests, and that it is explained by the priority given to physical education in school curricula, together with an increased likelihood of marriage.
        KW  - physical activity
KW  - later-life health
KW  - health education gradient
KW  - communist education
KW  - Europe
KW  - Soviet Communism
        ER  -