Is rented accommodation a good choice for primary school students' academic performance? – Evidence from rural China

Rented accommodation has increased rapidly in the past decade in rural areas since the school consolidation policy was implemented in China at the turn of the 21st century. This paper provides the first impact evaluation of rented accommodation on primary school students' academic performance by employing a double robust estimator with multivalued treatments. Using a unique survey of Grades 4 and 5 students in Shaanxi Province in 2013, we find that 22% of students lived in rented accommodation near their schools. Compared with students living in boarding school or at home, students living in rented accommodation, on average, have higher math test scores, and the positive effect is stronger for boys than girls. These results have important implications for the design of rural school policy.