Educational convergence and the equalization of happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Introduction: With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, happiness inequality is receiving increasing attention from both the scientific community and general public. The COVID-19 pandemic not only exerted a socio-economic impact but also contributed to the distribution of happiness among individuals in China. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on happiness inequality in China. We specifically analyze post-pandemic shifts in this inequality, and the urban-rural disparities. Methods: The panel data from the China family panel studies (CFPS) database (2014-2022) was applied in this study, recentered influence function (RIF) regression and Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) RIF-decomposition were performed. Results: Our results indicate that the variance of happiness declined significantly after the onset of COVID-19. The RIF regression and decomposition analyses reveal that this decline was driven by the convergence of mean happiness across educational groups-a trend already evident before the pandemic-with the happiness of the least educated rising steadily, while that of the most educated declined markedly. Once educational attainment is controlled for, the post-pandemic year coefficients attenuate substantially. Urban-rural subsample analyses confirm that this equalization pattern holds in both sectors. Conclusion: The observed reduction in happiness inequality during the pandemic reflects structural convergence along educational lines, a process that was reinforced by the narrowing of within-group dispersion for most educational groups in the early pandemic period. Whether this equalization persists beyond the zero-COVID period remains an open question for future research.