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Does primary school duration matter? Evaluating the consequences of a large Chinese policy experiment

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  • Eble, Alex
  • Hu, Feng

Abstract

Nearly all governments provide primary schooling, but surprisingly little is known about how changes to the duration of primary school affect educational attainment and performance in the labor market. We study a Chinese policy which extended the duration of primary school from five years to six but did not change the curriculum. We exploit its gradual rollout over space and time to generate causal estimates of its impact on educational attainment and subsequent labor market outcomes. We find that the policy has small, largely positive effects on post-primary educational attainment, and raises average monthly income by 2.6%. The policy is progressive, generating higher returns (5–8%) among both women and the least educated. We estimate the policy has already reallocated 450 million years of labor from work to schooling and we generate cost-benefit estimates to quantify this tradeoff, highlighting the large public finance implications of this policy decision.

Suggested Citation

  • Eble, Alex & Hu, Feng, 2019. "Does primary school duration matter? Evaluating the consequences of a large Chinese policy experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 61-74.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:70:y:2019:i:c:p:61-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.03.006
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jacek Liwiński, 2020. "The Impact of Compulsory Schooling on Hourly Wage: Evidence From the 1999 Education Reform in Poland," Evaluation Review, , vol. 44(5-6), pages 437-470, October.
    2. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian, 2022. "Inequality of Educational Opportunities and the Role of Learning Intensity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Fang Guanfu & Chen Yu, 2021. "Sibling Rivalry: Evidence from China’s Compulsory Schooling Reform," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 611-656, April.
    4. Gregory Clark & Christian Abildgaard Nielsen, 2024. "The Returns to Education: A Meta-study," Working Papers 0249, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    5. Assaad, Ragui & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Dayioglu-Tayfur, Meltem & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2023. "Wage Returns to Human Capital Resulting from an Extra Year of Primary School: Evidence from Egypt," IZA Discussion Papers 16037, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Zhang, Shiying & Huang, Ao, 2022. "The long-term effects of automatic grade promotion on child development," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Stanislav Avdeev, 2020. "Zero Returns To Higher Education: Evidence From A Natural Experiment," HSE Working papers WP BRP 236/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Compulsory education; Human capital; Redistribution; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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