Unequal Spaces, Unequal Minds: How Spatial Inequality Drives Excessive Educational Consumption

ABSTRACT The after‐school educational services market is booming, driven by growing parental anxiety and demand for excessive tutoring. This paper identifies spatial inequality, defined as the uneven distribution of resources across geographic areas, as a key driver that pushes parents toward excessive consumption of educational products. A proximity analysis of 2,710 residences and 15,871 educational institutions' point‐of‐interest data through ArcGIS, along with five online experiments ( N = 1,598, three preregistered), demonstrated that spatial inequality induces zero‐sum belief about social hierarchy, which increases parental anxiety, leading to excessive educational product consumption for their children. Intergenerational mobility experience is found to moderate the effect, amplifying the influence of spatial inequality on parents' educational consumption. These findings provide insights into understanding the maladaptive response of residents exposed to spatial inequality and their intergenerational educational consumption behavior, offering guidance for promoting healthier educational consumption among this population.