The effect of a multi-school zoning policy on the capitalization of educational resources: A quasi-natural experiment in Beijing

The problem of capitalizing high-quality education resources into real estate prices has been widely analyzed. This paper discusses the influence of school district policy—the “multi-school zoning (MSZ)” policy—on district housing prices in Beijing. The MSZ policy randomly assigns students to key primary schools (A public primary school with a long history and outstanding teaching quality), indirectly affecting residents' house-buying behavior. Using data from 60,663 housing transactions, we evaluated the effect of the policy through regression discontinuity (RD) design methodology. The results showed that: (1) overall house prices decreased by 8.2 % in Xicheng, and by 10.1 % in Haidian. The more significant decrease in Haidian is likely because of the large differences in educational resources in that area. (2) Housing prices in key vs. high-quality school districts in Xicheng decreased by 10.7 % and 10.6 %, respectively, likely because of the superior quality and balanced educational resources in that region. The effect of the MSZ policy on housing prices in key and high-quality school districts is similar. (3) Housing prices in different school districts in Haidian decreased by 12.5 % and 6.8 %, respectively. The unique merit-based enrollment model of Haidian undermines the random allocation aspect of the MSZ policy, thereby diminishing its inhibitory effect on housing prices in high - quality school districts. These findings shed light on the MSZ's role in preventing the capitalization of educational resources, which varies among school districts. The results may serve as a reference for policy makers in subsequent implementations. •Beijing's MSZ policy randomly offers learners placements in multiple schools.•The MSZ policy is effective in preventing the capitalization of educational resources.•Areas with balanced and quality educational resources are less affected by the policy.•The MSZ policy promotes educational equity while reducing housing premium.•Regression discontinuity design is effective for educational policy analysis.