 The long-term effect of television on children's human capital development in ChinaFangjing Zha and Di Zhou Journal of Development Economics, 2025, vol. 176, issue C Abstract: This paper examines the long-term impacts of childhood exposure to educational television on human capital formation. We focus on CCTV-14, China's first nationally broadcast channel specifically designed for children. Exploiting variation in the timing of cable and satellite television rollout across communities, we document that access to CCTV-14 led to significant and persistent improvements in non-cognitive skills. These gains are particularly pronounced among left-behind children, suggesting that the channel played a compensatory role in addressing early developmental disadvantages. In contrast, we find no evidence of sustained effects on cognitive outcomes. The observed asymmetry underscores the importance of program content in shaping skill development. Finally, children exposed to CCTV-14 are more likely to achieve a higher socioeconomic status, better health, and enhanced digital literacy than those who did not. Keywords: Television education; Human capital; Left-behind children; Long-term effect; Children development (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:176:y:2025:i:c:s0304387825000896 DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103538 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.