Family background, ability and student achievement in rural China : identifying the effects of unobservable ability using famine-generated instruments.

From:
Department for International Development
Published
1 January 2009
Country:
China
Document Type:
Conference Paper
Theme:
Social Change
Authors:
Chen, Q.

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of family background on academic achievement in basic education (grade 1-9) in rural China, using information on a sample of children aged 9-12 in 2000 from Gansu, China. The instrumental variable method developed by Mason and Griliches (1972), and Blackburn and Neumark (1992) is applied to control for unobserved child ability. Scores of a cognitive ability tests are first used to proxy unobservable child innate ability.

Citation

Family background, ability and student achievement in rural China : identifying the effects of unobservable ability using famine-generated instruments.

Published 1 January 2009
Contents