Just Above the Exam Cutoff Score: Elite College Admission and Wages in China

A burgeoning literature has documented the importance of elite colleges. Yet, little is known about access to education and its labor market implications in China, a country that produces one every five college graduates world. College admission China governed by single exam—the national entrance exam, government sets cutoff scores for We examine impacts scoring above elite-tier on student's colleges wage outcomes after graduation, using discontinuity around score. By employing hand-collected survey data, we find not only increases chance entering an but also raises young person's first-job wages graduation. those just have peers with higher better social networks than below cutoff, it less clear whether two groups use their time differently college. Institutional subscribers NBER working paper series, residents developing countries may download this without additional charge at www.nber.org.