Dividing lives: The impacts of delayed school tracking on inequalities in cognitive aging in Europe

We examine whether delaying selection into secondary school streams can reduce socioeconomic inequality in cognitive aging. We link data on individuals aged 50+ from 14 European countries in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to a newly compiled database on reforms that postponed the age of first tracking. Exploiting within-country, within-cohort variation in tracking age, we find that later tracking significantly reduces socioeconomic status (SES)-related disparities in late-life cognition. A one-year increase in tracking age relative to the sample median reduces the SES gradient in word recall by around 8%. Furthermore, our analysis shows that delayed tracking narrows SES gaps in completed years of education and in completion of at least vocational upper-secondary school. It also improves access to white-collar, high-prestige and less physically demanding first jobs. These findings suggest that education policy should be incorporated into broader strategies aimed at reducing health disparities throughout the lifespan. • Cognitive decline is a key issue faced by aging societies in the coming decades • Little attention to how education policy shapes cognitive outcomes by social group • Later school tracking flattens SES gradients in late-life cognition about 8% • Delayed tracking narrows the SES gap in educational outcomes • Later tracking steers low-SES youth into less strenuous, higher-status jobs