Hukou Status and Children’s Education in China
利用1998年户口改革带来的外生变化，发现获得城市户口使儿童适龄入学概率提高18.9个百分点，对女孩、高学历家庭和大城市儿童影响更大。
This paper investigates the causal effect of hukou status on children’s education. Before the hukou reform in 1998, children could inherit only their mother’s hukou status. After 1998, newborns and preschoolers could inherit either their father’s or mother’s hukou status, creating a unique exogenous opportunity for children who have urban fathers and rural mothers to obtain urban hukou. Our findings reveal that the younger cohorts exposed to the reform are 18.9 percentage points more likely to be at the appropriate grade level for their age. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced among girls and children from educated families or large cities.