Returns to Women's Education within Marriage: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design Study in China

Abstract

Applying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we examine the causal impact of education on marriage outcomes by exploiting the compulsory schooling law in China. Based on China’s 2005 1 Percent Population Sample Survey, we find that the increase in female educational attainment was associated with a significant increase in their husbands’ income and years of schooling, particularly for urban women, Han women, and better educated provinces. We show that their husbands’ socio-economic status was not directly improved by the CEL. The effect was likely driven by women’s increased competitiveness in the marriage market, increased probability of meeting a husband at school, enlarged social circles, and increased household bargaining power.

Keywords: education, marriage outcomes, compulsory education law, regression discontinuity design, fertility