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Can Conditional Grants Attract Better Students: Evidence from Chinese Normal Universities

Author

Listed:
  • Li Han

    (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
    Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

  • Jiaxin Xie

    (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

One recent policy tend to improve teacher quality is providing conditional grants to trainees in teacher colleges and commit them to working in disadvantaged areas upon graduation. Yet little is known whether such policies attract better trainees. This paper evaluates a conditional grant program in Chinese teachers' colleges, which commits students to teaching in their home province. Using a triple difference method, we find that teaching majors obtain better students due to the conditional grants. Exploring the heterogeneous treatment effects across regions, the policy effects not only increase as the costs of living during college decrease, but are larger in provinces with larger shares of disadvantaged students – i.e. rural, female, rural female, and with more siblings. These results suggest that the Chinese free teacher education program successfully attracts high quality students into the teaching force, and these high quality teacher trainees are likely to be credit constrained.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Han & Jiaxin Xie, 2015. "Can Conditional Grants Attract Better Students: Evidence from Chinese Normal Universities," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2015-14, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Mar 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:hku:wpaper:201514
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    conditional grants; teacher quality; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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