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Elite School Designation and Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Beijing, China

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Bin

    (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics)

  • He, Xiaoyan

    (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics)

  • Xu, Lei

    (Loughborough University)

  • Zhu, Yu

    (University of Dundee)

Abstract

We explore recent policy changes which aim to equalize access to elite elementary schools in Beijing, to identify the effect of access to quality education on house prices based on a unique dataset. Using property transaction records from Beijing over the period 2013-2016, we construct a balanced 4-wave panel of residential complexes, each of which linked to its designated primary schools. Whereas the multi-school dicing policy involves randomly assigning previously ineligible pupils to key elementary schools through lotteries, the policy of school federation led by elite schools consolidates ordinary primary schools through alliance with elite schools. Moreover, the designated primary school for a residential complex can change from an ordinary primary school to a key elementary school without involving neighbouring schools in surrounding residential complexes through a "pure" re-designation effect. We allow for systemic differences between the treated and non-treated residential complexes using the Matching Difference-in-Differences (MDID) approach. Our estimates indicate that the effect on house prices of being eligible to enrol in a municipal-level key primary school is about 4-6%, while the premium for being eligible for a less prestigious district-level key primary school is only about 2-3%. Our findings are robust to an alternative measure of primary school prestige based on an unofficial ranking from a popular parenting support website, which is shown to be closely related to the number of awards in academic tournaments.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Bin & He, Xiaoyan & Xu, Lei & Zhu, Yu, 2020. "Elite School Designation and Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Beijing, China," IZA Discussion Papers 12897, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12897
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    4. Pengyu Zhu & Yi Zhang & Juan Wang, 2023. "Canceling the admission priority of private schools enlarges housing price gap in public school districts: Evidence from Shanghai's new admission policy," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(1), pages 49-67, January.
    5. Xu, Yuanwei & Wang, Feicheng, 2022. "The health consequence of rising housing prices in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 114-137.
    6. Jin, Zhiyun & Wang, Xingrui & Huang, Bin, 2023. "The enrolment reform of schools and housing price: Empirical evidence from Shanghai, China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 262-273.
    7. Zengzheng Wang & Fuhao Zhang & Yangyang Zhao, 2023. "Exploring the Spatial Discrete Heterogeneity of Housing Prices in Beijing, China, Based on Regionally Geographically Weighted Regression Affected by Education," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-24, January.
    8. Ding, Kangzhe & Itoh, Ryo, 2023. "JUE Insight: The impact of the school admission restriction policy on the housing market in Shanghai," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    9. Ouyang, Yanyan & Cai, Hongbo & Yu, Xuefei & Li, Zijian, 2022. "Capitalization of social infrastructure into China's urban and rural housing values: Empirical evidence from Bayesian Model Averaging," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
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    11. Ziming Liu & Jiayu Ye & Guangcheng Ren & Shuyi Feng, 2022. "The Effect of School Quality on House Prices: Evidence from Shanghai, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Matching DID; quality school designation; house price premium; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets

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