How Does a Hard Manual Labor Experience during Youth Affect Life Later? The Long-term Impact of the Send-down Program during the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Under the send-down policy (1968–1978) during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, more than 16 million youths were forced to move to rural areas and carry out hard manual labor. This study analyzes the long-term impact of such an experience on income when these youths reached 40–55 years of age. Sent-down males were significantly more likely to upgrade their education after the Cultural Revolution, which caused education interruption for an entire generation. The IV estimates suggest that the sent-down males who upgraded their education earn a 10% higher income than non-sent-down males who also upgraded their education. Conditional on education upgrading, the sent-down males are also more likely to have computers at home. These findings are robust against a variety of family background. The send-down experience has had no significant impact on females. JEL Classification: I20, N95, O15, O53