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From Rural Schools to City Factories: Assessing the Quality of Chinese Rural Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Hanushek, Eric A.

    (Stanford University)

  • Kang, Le

    (Nanjing University)

  • Li, Xueying

    (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics)

  • Zhang, Lei

    (Zhejiang University)

Abstract

The changing pattern of quality in China’s rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having different sites of basic education provide for direct estimation of provincial school quality. Corroborating this approach, these school quality estimates prove to be highly correlated with provincial cognitive skill test scores for the same demographic group. Returns to quality increase with economic development level of destination cities. Importantly, quality appears higher and provincial variation appears lower for younger cohorts, indicating at least partial effectiveness of more recent policies aimed at improving rural school quality across provinces. Surprisingly, however, provincial variations in quality are uncorrelated with teacher-student ratio or per student spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanushek, Eric A. & Kang, Le & Li, Xueying & Zhang, Lei, 2025. "From Rural Schools to City Factories: Assessing the Quality of Chinese Rural Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 18030, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18030
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hanushek, Eric A & Rivkin, Steven G & Taylor, Lori L, 1996. "Aggregation and the Estimated Effects of School Resources," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 611-627, November.
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    3. Eric Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2012. "Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 267-321, December.
    4. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    5. Hanushek, Eric A. & Wang, Yuan & Zhang, Lei, 2025. "Understanding trends in Chinese skill premiums, 2007–2018," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 584-608.
    6. Alan De Brauw & Scott Rozelle, 2008. "Reconciling the Returns to Education in Off‐Farm Wage Employment in Rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 57-71, February.
    7. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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