Can the Black Lives Matter Movement Reduce Racial Disparities? Evidence from Medical Crowdfunding (Under Review)
(with Kaixin Liu and Junda Wang)
[PDF]
This paper studies whether the surge in popularity of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020 helps reduce the economic racial disparity. Relying on high-frequency donation records from a leading medical crowdfunding platform, this paper shows that the surge of BLM reduces the gap in the raised money between Black and non-Black beneficiaries by about 50%. Our racial decomposition of donors shows that non-Black donors mainly drive this effect. Residents living in counties with a moderate number of BLM gatherings are most influenced. We present indicative evidence that the widespread scale of a social movement may influence people's behavior more significantly than experiencing a local protest.
Education Opportunities for Rural Areas: Evidence from China’s Higher Education Expansion
(with Ande Shen)
[PDF]
This study investigates the effect of increased education opportunities, specifically the 1999 Higher Education Expansion (HEE) in China, on rural areas. Using detailed census and novel panel data, we employ a cohort-based difference-in-differences design and find that the HEE significantly boosted college and high school attendance, particularly in rural regions. The analysis reveals divergent impacts on income and living conditions between villages and households. While villages in high HEE provinces saw a decline in average income and living standards, migrant-sending households experienced a rise in per capita income. This contrasting outcome is attributed to education facilitating rural-urban migration, causing “brain drain” in villages but benefiting individual households. The results underscore the conflicting effects of education opportunities on rural development and household welfare.