Better School, Better Score? Evidence from a Chinese Earthquake-Stricken County

Little is known about the long-term impact of postdisaster government support on students' educational outcomes in selective high schools. Using the instrumental variable approach and administrative education data on an earthquake-affected county, we found that entering a selective high school in a postdisaster government-supported county reduces the college entrance examination scores of students and, thus, their success in attending college. Suggestive evidence showed that the redistribution of educational resources across schools could be a reason for this negative impact of selective schools. We conclude that raising awareness of this educational misallocation problem can be of great importance in improving the average level of human capital in rural areas.