IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v230y2025ics016726812400492x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Television exposure in early childhood and subsequent cognitive outcomes: Evidence from rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Lin
  • Xu, Wenli

Abstract

This study estimates the effect of television exposure in early childhood on subsequent cognitive outcomes using data from rural China. Exploiting the variations in the year of television access at the village level and children’s birth year, this study employs an extended two-way fixed effects (ETWFE) approach introduced by Wooldridge (2021). Baseline estimates, which are robust to staggered treatments, show that cognitive scores at ages 10–15 are significantly improved by full television exposure in early childhood (ages 0-5). Furthermore, there is suggestive evidence that this effect could be explained by the direct channel through which television enhances general knowledge level.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Lin & Xu, Wenli, 2025. "Television exposure in early childhood and subsequent cognitive outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s016726812400492x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106878
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726812400492X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106878?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janet Currie, 2001. "Early Childhood Education Programs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 213-238, Spring.
    2. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    3. Mario Fiorini & Michael P. Keane, 2014. "How the Allocation of Children's Time Affects Cognitive and Noncognitive Development," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(4), pages 787-836.
    4. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    5. Zavodny, Madeline, 2006. "Does watching television rot your mind? Estimates of the effect on test scores," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 565-573, October.
    6. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2024. "Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3253-3285.
    7. Keefer, Philip & Khemani, Stuti, 2014. "Mass media and public education: The effects of access to community radio in Benin," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 57-72.
    8. Sarah Baird & Joan Hamory Hicks & Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2016. "Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1637-1680.
    9. Zhang, Kevin Honglin & Song, Shunfeng, 2003. "Rural-urban migration and urbanization in China: Evidence from time-series and cross-section analyses," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 386-400.
    10. Demurger, Sylvie, 2001. "Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: An Explanation for Regional Disparities in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 95-117, March.
    11. Owen Ozier, 2018. "Exploiting Externalities to Estimate the Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Deworming," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 235-262, July.
    12. La Ferrara, Eliana & DellaVigna, Stefano, 2015. "Economic and Social Impacts of the Media," CEPR Discussion Papers 10667, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2008. "Preschool Television Viewing and Adolescent Test Scores: Historical Evidence from the Coleman Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 279-323.
    14. Ashesh Rambachan & Jonathan Roth, 2023. "A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2555-2591.
    15. Venkataramani, Atheendar S., 2012. "Early life exposure to malaria and cognition in adulthood: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 767-780.
    16. Melissa S. Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2019. "Early Childhood Education by Television: Lessons from Sesame Street," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 318-350, January.
    17. Fali Huang & Myoung-Jae Lee, 2010. "Dynamic treatment effect analysis of TV effects on child cognitive development," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 392-419.
    18. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    19. Huang, Wei & Liu, Hong, 2023. "Early childhood exposure to health insurance and adolescent outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    20. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    21. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    22. Øystein Hernæs & Simen Markussen & Knut Røed, 2019. "Television, Cognitive Ability, and High School Completion," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 371-400.
    23. Yvonne Jie Chen & Li Li & Yun Xiao, 2022. "Early-Life Exposure to Tap Water and the Development of Cognitive Skills," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(6), pages 2113-2149.
    24. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier d'Haultfoeuille & Antoine Deeb, 2019. "TWOWAYFEWEIGHTS: Stata module to estimate the weights and measure of robustness to treatment effect heterogeneity attached to two-way fixed effects regressions," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03946777, HAL.
    25. Tafesse, Wiktoria, 2022. "The effect of Universal Salt Iodization on cognitive test scores in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Likun Mao & Sarah Grace See, 2025. "Early Exposure, ICT Use, and Teenage Well being Outcomes," CHILD Working Papers Series 121 JEL Classification: I, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Schmidpeter, Bernhard, 2022. "Spillover effects of immigration policies on children's human capital," Ruhr Economic Papers 974, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Paul Bingley & Lorenzo Cappellari & Marco Ovidi, 2023. "When it hurts the most: timing of parental job loss and a child’s education," LISER Working Paper Series 2023-12, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    3. Philipp Barteska & Jay Euijung Lee, 2025. "Personnel is policy (implementation): Bureaucrats and the Korean export miracle," CEP Discussion Papers dp2099, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Elena Claudia Meroni & Daniela Piazzalunga & Chiara Pronzato, 2022. "Allocation of time and child socio-emotional skills," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1155-1192, December.
    5. Kim, Woojin, 2022. "Television and American consumerism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    6. Shen, Houqi & Zhang, Yuanmeng & Wang, Mingzhe & Lei, Yumeng, 2025. "Unlocking the dual benefits: Economic and ecological impacts of China's National Key Ecological Function Areas," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2024. "Estimating Causal Effects with Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," IFRO Working Paper 2024/03, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    8. Li, Daiyue & Jin, Yanhong & Cheng, Mingwang, 2024. "Unleashing the power of industrial robotics on firm productivity: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 500-520.
    9. Coraggio, Luca & Pagano, Marco & Scognamiglio, Annalisa & Tåg, Joacim, 2025. "JAQ of all trades: Job mismatch, firm productivity and managerial quality," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Li, Pei & Liu, Kaihao & Lu, Yi & Peng, Lu, 2025. "Organizing regulatory structure and local air quality: Evidence from the environmental vertical management reform in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 139-164.
    11. Philipp Barteska & Jay Euijung Lee, 2024. "Bureaucrats and the Korean export miracle," Discussion Papers 2024-11, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    12. Cl'ement de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultf{oe}uille, 2021. "Two-Way Fixed Effects and Differences-in-Differences with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects: A Survey," Papers 2112.04565, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    13. Isabelle Chort & Berk Öktem, 2024. "Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: Evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1020-1057, May.
    14. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca L.C., 2025. "Slow traffic, fast food: The effects of time lost on food store choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    15. Acosta, Miguel & Mueller, Andreas I. & Nakamura, Emi & Steinsson, Jon, 2023. "Macroeconomic Effects of UI Extensions at Short and Long Durations," CEPR Discussion Papers 18534, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Sophie Hatte & Jordan Loper & Thomas Taylor, 2025. "Connecting the Unconnected: Facebook Access and Female Political Representation in Sub-Saharan Africa," CERDI Working papers hal-05056150, HAL.
    17. Francesconi, Marco & Sonedda, Daniela, 2024. "Does Weaker Employment Protection Lower the Cost of Job Loss?," IZA Discussion Papers 17374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Balia, S.; & Brau, R.; & Pau, S.;, 2025. "One plus one makes less than two? Consolidation policies and mortality in the Italian NHS," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 25/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    19. Fabre, Brice & Sangnier, Marc, 2025. "Where and why do politicians send pork? Evidence from central government transfers to French municipalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    20. Qiu, Huanguang & Hong, Junqiao & Wang, Xiangrui & Filipski, Mateusz, 2024. "Home sweet home: Impacts of living conditions on worker migration with evidence from randomized resettlement in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 558-583.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Media; Cognitive skills; Human capital; Early childhood;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s016726812400492x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.