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School entry age and educational attainment in developing countries: Evidence from China's compulsory education law

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  • Chen, Jiaying
  • Park, Albert

Abstract

We investigate the causal impact of age of enrolment on educational attainment in a developing country setting. Using China's 1986 Compulsory Education Law, which established a new nationally uniform age threshold for primary school enrolment as a natural experiment, we find that the probability of attending high school falls by 3.6 percentage points when school enrolment is postponed by one year. We provide suggestive evidence that those who start school later are not better learners, and that older students' higher labor opportunity cost plays an important role in explaining the negative impact of school entry age on educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Jiaying & Park, Albert, 2021. "School entry age and educational attainment in developing countries: Evidence from China's compulsory education law," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 715-732.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:49:y:2021:i:3:p:715-732
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2020.12.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Sun, Shengmin & Chen, Jiawei & Chen, Jiaying, 2023. "Cohort crowding in education and employment: Evidence from China's compulsory education law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 391-411.
    4. Zhang, Shumeng & Guo, Naijia & Zhang, Junsen, 2023. "Reexamining the effect of birth order on cognitive and non-cognitive abilities: New evidence from China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Li, Xu & Lou, Xuyan & Zhang, Junsen, 2022. "Does the early bird catch the worm? The effect of school starting age on educational attainment and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Chinese urban twins data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 832-848.
    6. Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Age matters for girls: School entry age and female graduate education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    school entry age; Educational attainment; Compulsory education law; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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