Conscientiousness, Education, and Longevity of High-Ability Individuals

Abstract

Based on the 1922-1991 Terman data of children with high ability, I investigate the effects of childhood cognitive skills, socioemotional skills, and post-compulsory education on longevity using factor-analytic methodology similar to that in Heckman et al. (2006). For men, I find strong effects of socioemotional skills and education on longevity and an interaction between education and the skills. In particular, the average treatment effect of a Bachelor’s degree on life expectancy is 8.6 additional years of life, is worth for a statistical man as large as $810,000 of 2012 US dollars as a conservative estimate. Results for the effect of education are in line with Buckles et al. (2013) paper that is based on IV approach. One decile increases in childhood Conscientiousness and Extraversion lead to increases in life expectancy by 0.75 and 0.63 years worth 81 and 69 thousand US dollars. For women, who are born around 1910 and live longer than educated men, I find no statistically significant effects of education and socioemotional skills on longevity.