The effects of Dibao programme on adolescent academic performance: evidence from seventh-grade students in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT China’s Dibao is one of the largest cash transfer programmes in the world, serving as a ‘last safety net’. However, evidence regarding the effect of Dibao on children’s educational outcomes and its mechanisms remains limited. Using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) and employing a combined propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) approach, this study examined the association between Dibao participation and adolescent academic performance in China and explored the potential influence mechanisms in this relationship. The results showed that Dibao had significant positive effects on adolescent academic performance. Moreover, the positive effects of Dibao on academic performance were stronger among urban adolescents, boys and adolescents living with their parents. Attending remedial class, expenditure of remedial class, frequency of communication with parents, having home-school communication, attitudes towards learning, and self-confidence about the future were important influence channels in the relationship between Dibao participation and adolescent academic performance. Our findings suggest that cash transfer programmes such as China’s Dibao can go beyond the safety nets to make ends meet. Dibao’s potential role in boosting adolescents’ human capital in poor families provides important implications for policy reform in China as well as in other developing countries.