Abstract
Using China’s higher education expansion as a natural experiment, we examine the causal effect of education quality on the proclivity to be in energy poverty. We find that education causes a reduction in the likelihood of being in energy poverty and that the point estimates are largest for those that attended elite universities, followed by those who attended non-elite universities and colleges. This finding is robust to alternative ways of measuring energy poverty, as well as a series of sensitivity checks. We find that cognitive ability, employment status, generalised trust and income mediate the relationship between education and energy poverty.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 25-55 |
| Number of pages | 32 |
| Journal | Energy Journal |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 6 May 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright IAEE 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- elite university
- energy poverty
- China