We examine the causal impact of ideological education on students' political participation and career choices by exploiting China's staggered rollout of a high school curriculum reform that emphasized political indoctrination. Using nationally representative survey data on college students that the authors collected, we find that exposure to the new curriculum increases the likelihood of joining the Chinese Communist Party by 14% and raises the probability of securing state-sector jobs after graduation by 15%. These results highlight the powerful role of ideological education in shaping students' political alignments and career trajectories.

This article empirically examines the causal effect of railway infrastructure on local economic development using the construction of Qingzang railway as a natural experiment. We apply the difference-in-difference method and find that the Qingzang railway significantly stimulated the economy of the counties along its path (railway counties). The local GDP per capita increased by about 33% after the railway had begun to operate. The effect manifested primarily through the positive railway effect on the manufacturing industry. In addition, the effect did not vary significantly with the initial economic status of the railway counties. The GDP per capita of the off-railway counties that are adjacent to the railway counties was not significantly affected.