Yue Li

Yue Li

Econ Ph.D. Candidate(UCL)

Research

Working Papers

“Bedtime Stories, Daytime Effects: Classroom Spillovers in Rural China”

with Peiyi Jin

Abstract: Can a school intervention benefit classmates outside its formal delivery group? We study a randomised socio-emotional program in 63 rural Chinese primary schools. In treated schools, fifteen-minute audio stories were broadcast nightly in school dormitories. The broadcasts formally targeted boarders; day students had returned home, although both groups shared classrooms and teachers during the school day. After fourteen months, day students in treated schools reported self-esteem 0.15 standard deviations higher and depressive symptoms 0.12 standard deviations lower than day students in control schools. The self-esteem gain extends to children with no pre-existing friendship with a boarder, suggesting that spillovers need not follow direct friendship ties. The pattern of estimates also varies with parental presence. These findings show that socio-emotional programs can affect children beyond their formal recipients and that recipient-only evaluations may understate their reach and total benefits.

Presented at: RES 2025 (Birmingham), Janeway Institute PhD Workshop 2025 (Cambridge), SOLE 2024 (Oregon), EAYE 2024 (Paris)

“Unemployment and Higher Education: Evidence from Higher Education Expansion in China”

Abstract: This paper exploits the 1999 nationwide higher education expansion in China to estimate the dynamics of the causal effect of higher education expansion and college degrees on labour market outcomes in China.

Primary Data Collection

“Study and Development of Junior High Students”, China (2015–2020)

Panel dataset with four survey waves (2015, 2016, 2017, 2020) covering ~18,000 students in rural Sichuan and Hebei, along with their teachers and principals. Responsible for the 2020 follow-up wave, including leading survey implementation, cleaning ~20,000 student responses, and constructing non-cognitive skills measures. Data includes: mental health, social network, buly behaviours, internet addiction, cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

Book Chapter

Peer Effects among Rural Adolescents (with Yaowu Wu)
In Study on the Development of Rural Adolescent Non-Cognitive Skills, Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2025, pp. 90–113.

Presentations

2025

  • Royal Economic Society Annual Conference, Birmingham
  • Stone Centre Conference on Education and Inequality, London
  • Janeway Institute Cambridge PhD Workshop on Economic Networks, Cambridge
  • Applied Micro PhD Research Day at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, London
  • Young Economists Society (YES) Chengdu Forum, Chengdu

2024