Purpose – This paper aims to explain why the quality of infrastructure projects in rural China differs from village to village and how project quality is correlated with project design attributes and governance factors. Design/methodology/approach – Using primary data collected by the...

Students from poor, rural areas of China receive less secondary schooling than their urban peers in part because of high direct and opportunity costs. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to estimate the effectiveness of providing early commitment for financial aid (ECFA) in mitigating...

China, like other middle income countries, is facing the challenges of the next stage of development as its leaders seek to guide the nation into becoming a high income country. In this article we explore one of the major challenges that China is facing in the transition from middle to high...

Recent studies have shown that only about two-thirds of the students from poor, rural areas in China finish junior high school and enter high school. One factor that may be behind the low rates of high school attendance is that students may be misinformed about the returns to schooling or lack...

We estimate the impact of two early commitment of financial aid (ECFA) programs—one at the start and one near the end of junior high school (seventh and ninth grades, respectively)—on the outcomes of poor, rural junior high students in China. Our results demonstrate that neither of the ECFA...

Students in rural China are dropping out of secondary school at troubling rates. While there is considerable quantitative research on this issue, no systematic effort has been made to assess the deeper reasons behind student decision making through a mixed-methods approach. This article seeks to...

We estimate the impact of two early commitment of financial aid (ECFA) programs—near the start and one near the end of junior high school (seven than ninth grades, respectively)—on the out comes of poor, rural junior high students in China. Our results demonstrate that neither of the ECFA...