Can private schools slow down the capitalization of public school quality into house values? Evidence from Shanghai

Abstract： 

This paper identifies the effect of private schools on the capitalization of public school quality into house values, by exploiting an education policy reform on restricting enrollment zones of private primary schools in Shanghai. Endogeneity of the supplies of public and private schools is controlled for by using difference-in-difference and geographic regression discontinuity approaches. We find that housing price premium tied to public school quality decreases when the availability of private schools increases.

Speaker Biography：

Zhejin Zhao, post-doctoral fellow in the school of business and economics, The University of Hong Kong. He earned B.A. in Economics from Xiamen University (2010), M.A. in Economics from Beijing Normal University (2013). Zhao visited McGill University in Canada at 2014 and earned Ph.D. in Economics from University of Lyon, France. Zhao’s researches focus on urban and housing economics. Zhao investigates these topics: policy evaluation in the housing market, aging and housing demand, housing price and population mobility and how schools influence housing market.