In this episode, Dr. Jessica Ozan interviews Dr. Facundo Herrera about his PhD research on the causal links between education and mental health, focusing on ethnic minorities in the UK. They explore impact evaluation methods, policy implications, and future research directions.

keywords education, mental health, impact evaluation, causation, ethnic minorities, UK, policy, PhD research

key topics

• Causation vs correlation in education and mental health
• Impact of extended schooling (1972 Rosla reform)
• Methodology: Regression Discontinuity Design and local randomization
• Findings on ethnic minorities and mental health
• Policy implications for education and health equity

Guest name

Dr. Facundo Herrera

Titles

• Does More Education Improve Mental Health for Ethnic Minorities?
• Causal Links Between Education and Mental Health Explored

Sound Bites

• "The causal effect of extra schooling on mental health vanished."
• "Focus on what the years of education contain, not just the years."

Chapters

00:00Introduction to the podcast and guest

01:20Guest introduction and background

02:16Motivation for research on education, health, and inequalities

03:44The link between education and mental health

06:09Exploiting the 1972 Rosla reform for causal analysis

08:33Methodology: Regression Discontinuity and data analysis

11:29Findings: No causal effect of additional schooling on mental health

14:45Ethnic minorities and different experiences in education

17:13Implications for education policy and mental health

20:06Broader implications for interventions beyond schools

21:33Future research directions and closing remarks

Resources

• Understanding Society Survey
• Social Science & Medicine - Mental Health Study
• UK Evaluation Society
• Digital Science

Guest links

• LinkedIn
• Twitter