Unexpected opportunity for girls: Earthquake, disaster relief and female education in China's poor counties

Abstract

The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 devastated poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan Province, China. This paper examines the long-term effect of a disastrous earthquake on children's educational attainment using China's 2015 Population Census. Our cohort difference-in-differences results show that exposure to an earthquake has an unexpected significant positive impact on girls’ educational attainment in poor counties, but not on boys. We suggest that this surprising educational gain may be attributable to the reconstruction of schools and the reduction in school fees after disaster. In the long run, girls in poor affected counties are more likely to delay marriage, postpone childbearing and become self-employed compared with girls in poor unaffected counties. These findings potentially exhibit the unintended benefits in education from post-disaster interventions in poor areas.