Equitable education policy or school franchising strategy? Examining the impacts of school-to-school collaboration on the housing market dynamic in urban China

Abstract

Aiming at fostering a “self-improving system” where high-performing schools pair with underperforming schools to enhance educational equity, school-to-school collaboration (SSC) has gained increasing attention in education policies worldwide. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of SSC remains unclear, which may produce uneven and complex impacts on the capitalization of education in housing prices. This study employs a quasi-natural experiment based on 2013–2021 housing transaction data in Shenzhen, China and estimates the causal effects of SSC on housing market dynamics. Our models reveal that state-led SSC contributes to the capitalization of public schools into housing prices, with varying impacts across different types of schools. Specifically, underperforming and new schools see more pronounced effects immediately after their integration into SSC compared to high-performing core schools. However, one to two years after the integration, the impact becomes significant for high-performing core schools, while it diminishes for underperforming schools. These results suggest that SSC's impact on educational capitalization is immediate, primarily driven by the discursive dimension of brand-centric school franchising strategies.