When Opportunity Knocks: China's Open Door Policy and Declining Educational Attainment

Xuan Jiang, Kendall Kennedy and Jiatong Zhong

No 2022-7, Working Papers from University of Alberta, Department of Economics

Abstract: In 1978, China opened its door to the outside world. This study investigates how the Open Door Policy affected the educational choices of workers born 1960-1970. Using measures of local labor markets' export exposure, we find the Open Door Policy decreased educational attainment; youths born from 1965-70 facing the mean export exposure were 5.6-13.3 p.p. less likely to complete high school than those born in 1960. Our findings suggest a complicated relationship between Chinese human capital accumulation and economic growth during the industrialization of the 1980s and 1990s, as the Open Door Policy reduced skilled labor in the most export-exposed regions.

Keywords: Open Door Policy; educational attainment; high school completion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 I20 J20 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 71 pages
Date: 2022-03-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-his, nep-lma and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: When Opportunity Knocks: China's Open Door Policy and Declining Educational Attainment (2023)
Working Paper: When Opportunity Knocks: China's Open Door Policy and Declining Educational Attainment (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:albaec:2022_007

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