Health and Education Reforms in Rural China

China witnessed an unprecedented economic boom in the past four decades but will soon see the end of "demographic dividend". With shrinking labor, improving the quality of human capital could be one way to maintain China’s remarkable growth. The population in rural China accounts for 41% of the total population in China but the human capital development in rural China lags far behind the urban cities.This book selects four major reforms on education and health in rural China and evaluates the impact of these reforms on human capital development. Through rigorous econometric analysis, the book looks at factors of the rural-urban gap in human capital and the causal relationship between the reforms and the human capital development.This book will be a useful reference for developing economies which are facing similar issues in the labor market.

1. Introduction2. Primary School Availability and Middle School Education in Rural ChinaLi Li and Haoming Liu3. The Long-run Effects of the Free Compulsory Education Reform in Rural ChinaYun Xiao, Li Li and Liqiu Zhao4. New Cooperative Medical Scheme and Health Expenditure in Rural China5. Choice of Doctor Type and Children’s Height in Rural China6.Conclusion

Li Li is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University, China. Her research interests are labor economics, development economics, and applied microeconometrics. Her work has appeared in journals including Labour Economics, China Economic Review, and Journal of Comparative Economics.