Abstract
This paper studies the long-run impacts of early childhood exposure to the institutional reform in Chinese agriculture from 1978 to 1984, which shifted the farming institution from collective system to Household Responsibility System (HRS). Using regional variation in the timing and pace of HRS adoption and a DID approach, I find heterogeneous effects of HRS reform on individuals at different ages. Specifically, it improved the educational attainment, health, socioeconomic and political status for those born during the reform era while decreased human capital investment in individuals at critical school ages. My findings are in line with and in support of both fetal origins hypothesis and models that highlight the important role of opportunity cost in determining human capital investment.
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