Rank, peer achievement, and shadow education: Evidence from secondary school students in China

Chaonuo Dai and Yuzhi Zhou

Economics of Education Review, 2025, vol. 108, issue C

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of academic rank and peer achievement on shadow education, such as private tutoring, among secondary students in China. Exploiting the random assignment of students to classrooms, we find that ranking higher relative to peers and better average peer achievement reduce shadow education participation, time use, and monetary expenditure. The effects of rank are more pronounced than peer achievement. Such rank and peer effects are mitigated when parents have imperfect information about a child’s performance, suggesting that educational policies reducing the visibility of precise rank information to parents may reduce the demand for shadow education.

Keywords: Peer effect; Rank effect; Shadow education; Quasi-random experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D62 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:108:y:2025:i:c:s0272775725000627

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2025.102682

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