Health, SES, and the Timing of Education Among Military Retirees

The timing of education across the life cycle is differentially associated with older-age health outcomes and socioeconomic status among military retirees, a subpopulation with common levels of adolescent health but variation in educational timing. A year of education obtained before military service lowers the probability of poor health in retirement by 2.5 percentage points, while a year obtained after service reduces poor health by only 0.6 percentage point. By contrast, education raises income and wealth uniformly through vintage. This suggests that education improves health through fostering the lifelong accumulation of healthy behaviors and habits rather than raising income or wealth.