Boarding education and children's human capital development

Junjie Lin, Chunchao Wang, Sheng Xu, Ling Zhang and Yunbin Zhang

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 232, issue C

Abstract: Boarding schools, offering an alternative residential arrangement to the traditional home environment, have been under-studied regarding their impacts on students’ non-cognitive development. This study presents findings derived from a quasi-experimental design where changes in local educational policy caused a transition from voluntary to compulsory boarding. Results indicate that boarding students outperform their non-boarding counterparts in both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, with disadvantaged students exhibiting the largest gains. We attribute these effects to increased teacher engagement in course preparation, closer teacher-student interactions, and heightened student effort toward academic pursuits. These findings underscore the potential of boarding schools as a powerful catalyst for enhancing students’ human capital.

Keywords: Boarding school; Cognitive ability; Non-cognitive outcome (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I21 I24 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:232:y:2025:i:c:s016726812500068x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106948

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