Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/216439 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13127
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We find a strong positive sibling spillover effect in two-children households in rural China, as measured by an increase in the Chinese and Math test scores of elder siblings when their younger sibling starts school. We use the Chinese Law of Compulsory Education as an exogenous variation in the timing of school enrollment to control for the impact of simultaneous and unobserved out-of-sibship factors. The mechanism for the sibling spillover likely comes from an increase in studying interactions within the sibling pairs. The spillover is prompted by having a younger sister enter school and is the strongest when both children are daughters. However, the son-preference culture emphasized in certain regions negatively offsets the positive sister-led spillover.
Subjects: 
human capital
peer effect
sibling spillover
school cutoff
son preference
intrahousehold allocation
rural China
JEL: 
E24
C68
J30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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