What Schools Will Families Choose: Evidence From China's School Lottery in the Housing Perspective

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: International and Immigrant Perspectives on Educational Opportunity (Table 37)

Abstract

To equalize access to elite schools, China introduced the school lottery policy severing the link between residential address and school assignment. Using property transaction records from Beijing, we investigate how the policy affects families' school and residence choices through the perspective of housing prices. We find that the policy has a minimal impact on the housing premiums of second-tier schools but significantly depresses the housing premiums of top-tier schools. The results suggest that families prefer to choose second-tier schools instead of first-tier schools after the policy. We conclude that while the policy mitigates the desire for elite schools, it intensifies competition for housing in areas less affected by the policy.

Author

• Jiusheng Zhu, Beijing Normal University