Abstract
This study investigates the effect of cohort crowding on educational attainment and labor market performance by employing discontinuities in schooling cohort size induced by China's Compulsory Education Law. Similar to other developing countries, basic education in China was severely under-funded when the educational reforms were initiated in the 1980s. We find a negative crowding effect on completed years of schooling. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the crowding effect is more substantial in provinces with poor endowment and in rural areas. We also find suggestive evidence of a larger cohort size on employment rate among poorly-educated people.
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