Source: Institute for Economic and Social Research

Author: Xu Mengyao

Liao Haoye, an undergraduate in JNU's Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR), in collaboration with his supervisor, Assistant Prof. Ma Sen, has published a paper in China Economic Review, an official journal of the Chinese Economists Society. The title is "Does School Shutdown Increase Inequality in Academic Performance? Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in China." Hao Xue is the co-author. 

Liao worked from the premise that school closings because of the Covid-19 pandemic may have a more negative impact on disadvantaged children and thus exacerbate educational inequality. Based on survey data from 7,202 middle-school students and their parents in Shaanxi Province, Liao and Ma explored whether school closings widened the academic gap between students from different family backgrounds at the beginning of the 2020 outbreak. The study found that as parents' educational levels increased, their children’s overall test scores increased correspondingly by 0.18%. In addition, the paper's mechanism analysis shows that parents’ educational level in some way helps teachers improve children's academic performance during school suspension as they participate in daily learning and mitigate the negative effects of internet addiction.

Liao is a senior in the International Innovation Class in economics. Liao has won the National Scholarship, the IESR Outstanding Undergraduate First Prize and the Outstanding Student Cadre of Freshman Training Camp in 2020-2021.