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The Impact of Primary School Investment Reallocation on Educational Attainment in Rural Areas of the People’s Republic of China

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  • Haepp, Tobias

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

  • Lyu, Lidan

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

Abstract

We analyze the effect of removing village-level primary schools and effectively merging these into larger township-level schools on educational attainment in rural areas of the People’s Republic of China. We employ individual- and village-level information from the China Household Ethnic Survey, which covers regions that are intensively affected by the removal campaign. We find a negative effect of school removals on primary school and junior high school completion rates. However, we also find positive effects on educational attainment beyond junior high school for those students who began their education in the new merged primary schools. This effect can be attributed to resource pooling and higher teacher quality in the new schools. The adverse effects are more severe for girls, especially if the new schools do not provide boarding and are located far away from student residences, and for children whose parents have low educational attainment, thus exacerbating gender inequality and the intergenerational transmission of education inequality. Our findings provide an important reference for other developing countries that will need to reallocate primary school investment in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Haepp, Tobias & Lyu, Lidan, 2018. "The Impact of Primary School Investment Reallocation on Educational Attainment in Rural Areas of the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 821, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0821
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    1. Dongre, Ambrish & Tewary, Vibhu, 2020. "Pain without gain?: Impact of school rationalisation in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    primary education; school removals; educational attainment; People’s Republic of China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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