China’s Only Children and Their Spillover Effects on Academic Performance in the Classroom

Wang Haining () and Rong Zhu
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Wang Haining: School of Government, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2019, vol. 19, issue 4, 10

Abstract: This paper examines the causal effect of students who are the only child in their family on the academic performance of their classmates, exploiting the random assignment of students to classes within schools in China. We find that a higher proportion of classmates as the only child in their family improves the academic outcomes of students in the same classroom. We also find evidence of positive but heterogeneous peer effects by student and class characteristics. Our findings suggest that the academic performance of Chinese students has benefited indirectly from the one-child policy because of this positive peer influence within the classroom.

Keywords: only child in the family; academic achievement; peer effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2019-0058

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