The social support returns to college education in China: Evidence from online medical crowdfunding

Abstract

Attaining a college education bestows advantages in the labor market, but it is undetermined whether a college education could also benefit those in need of assistance. Using a unique dataset from a large online medical crowdfunding platform based in China, this paper investigates the social support returns to college education. Our study finds that patients attaining college education would raise 88.1% more funds through medical crowdfunding. A variety of identification strategies suggest that the relationship is causal. By examining the potential mechanism, we conclude that college-educated patients have more detailed narratives and have more school-related social connections who are willing to verify and distribute the campaigns, attracting more supporters and ultimately raising more funds.