The Spillover of Sibling Education on Own Education and Health in China

Abstract

This paper studies the spillover effect of sibling's education on one's education, health, and health behavior. I use the introduction of compulsory schooling law around 1986 in China as an exogenous variation in sibling's years of schooling, of which the policy effect varies across children born in separate calendar years. I find positive sibling spillover in education, while the effect is larger from older to a younger sibling than vice versa. I also find positive spillovers in health and health behavior. The heterogeneity analysis provides suggestive evidence to support the mechanisms through sibling interaction and health information transmission, other than only through the positive spillover in education. This non-negligible externality of education policy suggests using education policy as an instrument to improve population health is more effective than we used to think.