Data and Code for: Arrival of Young Talent: The Send-down Movement and Rural Education in China

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Yi Chen, Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University; School of Entrepreneurship and Management, ShanghaiTech University; Ziying Fan, School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics; Xiaomin Gu, International Business School, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics; Li-An Zhou, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

Version: View help for Version V1

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Project Description

Summary: This paper estimates the effects of the send-down movement during the Cultural Revolution---when about 16 million urban youth were mandated to resettle in the countryside---on rural education. Using a county-level dataset compiled from local gazetteers and population censuses, we show that greater exposure to the sent-down youths significantly increased rural children's educational achievement. This positive effect diminished after the urban youth left the countryside in the late 1970s but never disappeared. Rural children who interacted with the sent-down youths were also more likely to pursue more-skilled occupations, marry later, and have smaller families than those who did not.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Send-down movement; Cultural Revolution; rural education

JEL Classification:
      I25 Education and Economic Development
      J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
      N35 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Asia including Middle East
      O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
      R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics

Geographic Coverage: China

Universe: rural population in China

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: individual, county, county-by-year

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Published Versions

V1 [2020-10-21]

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