Schooling and adult cognitive skills: evidence from education reforms

We examine whether more schooling causally increases the cognitive skills of adults. Using education reforms in twenty-one European countries as natural experiments, we link cohorts’ exposure to reforms to internationally comparable numeracy and literacy scores from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development–Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. An extra year of schooling increases adult skills by about 0.2–0.25 standard deviations. The gains are non-linear: completing high school and, especially, college delivers larger skill improvements than the average additional year. Across reform types, expansions of pre-primary and secondary education generate the largest increases in skills. Using information on how individuals use skills at work and at home, we provide evidence consistent with a mechanism whereby education improves access to skill-intensive jobs that sustain and further develop skills over the life cycle. Overall, raising educational attainment can deliver lasting skill gains, particularly when followed by opportunities to use and build skills in the labour market.