The Effect of Education on Medical Technology Adoption: Are the More Educated More Likely to Use New Drugs

Author contact info: Adriana Lleras-Muney Department of Economics 9373 Bunche Hall UCLA Los Angeles, CA 90095 Tel: 310/825-3925 Fax: NA E-Mail: alleras@ECON.UCLA.EDU Frank R. Lichtenberg Columbia University 504 Uris Hall 3022 Broadway New York, NY 10027 Tel: 212/854-4408 Fax: (212) 854-9895 E-Mail: frl1@columbia.edu There is a large body of work that documents a strong, positive correlation between education and measures of health, but little is known about the mechanisms by which education might affect health. One possibility is that more educated individuals are more likely to adopt new medical technologies. We investigate this theory by asking whether more educated people are more likely to use newer drugs, while controlling for other individual characteristics, such as income and insurance status. Using the 1997 MEPS, we find that more highly educated people are more likely to use drugs more recently approved by the FDA. We find that education only matters for individuals who repeatedly purchase drugs for a given condition, suggesting that the more educated are better able to learn from experience.