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Returns to Schooling in China Under Planning and Reform

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Author Info
Belton M. Fleisher ()
Xiaojun Wang ()

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Abstract

We estimate returns to schooling using a retrospective work history survey covering more than 4,000 workers over the period 1950 to 1994, with particular emphasis to the returns to schooling for workers who attended institutes of higher education and who graduated from college. We find evidence that schooling returns declined throughout the period leading up to the Cultural Revolution (CR), with returns for workers who did not attend college becoming negligible. Returns to those with some college education remained positive, but low compared to other countries. Consistent with other studies, we find that returns to schooling did not recover from their CR low until the 1990s. Increases in the return to schooling during the transition following the CR were not associated directly with workers changing jobs or with taking “new-economy” jobs but appear to have occurred for most workers across all ownership categories. Workers most likely to leave jobs in the traditional ownership sector for jobs in the private or jointventure categories were those who entered the labor force prior to 1967. We do not find evidence supporting other studies’ finding that schooling returns for college graduates increased more than for workers with lower levels of schooling attainment.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School in its series William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series with number 2004-704.

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Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: 01 Jun 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wdi:papers:2004-704

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Related research
Keywords: returns to schooling; skills; China;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Li, Haizheng, 2003. "Economic transition and returns to education in China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 317-328, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Fleisher, Belton M. & Chen, Jian, 1997. "The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 220-236, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Munich, Daniel & Svejnar, Jan & Terrell, Katherine, 2000. "Returns to Human Capital under the Communist Wage Grid and During the Transition to a Market Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 122, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Knight, John B & Song, Lina, 1991. "The Determinants of Urban Income Inequality in China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 53(2), pages 123-54, May.
    Other versions:
  5. Orazem, Peter F & Vodopivec, Milan, 1995. "Winners and Losers in Transition: Returns to Education, Experience, and Gender in Slovenia," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 201-30, May.
    Other versions:
  6. Meng, Xin & Gregory, R G, 2002. "The Impact of Interrupted Education on Subsequent Educational Attainment: A Cost of the Chinese Cultural Revolution," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 935-59, July.
  7. Fleisher, Belton M & Dong, Keyong & Liu, Yunhua, 1996. "Education, Enterprise Organization, and Productivity in the Chinese Paper Industry," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(3), pages 571-87, April.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Fleisher, Belton M. & Sabirianova, Klara & Wang, Xiaojun, 2004. "Returns to Skills and the Speed of Reforms: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe, China, and Russia," IZA Discussion Papers 1182, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Xiaojun Wang & Belton M. Fleisher & Haizheng Li & Shi Li, 2007. "Access to Higher Education and Inequality: The Chinese Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 2823, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Ismail, Ramlee, 2007. "The Impact of Schooling Reform on Returns to Education in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 15021, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 Jan 2008. [Downloadable!]
  4. Daniela Andren & John S. Earle & Dana Sapatoru, 2004. "The Wage Effects of Schooling under Socialism and in Transition: Evidence from Romania, 1950-2000," Staff Working Papers 04-108, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Fleisher, Belton M. & Li, Haizheng & Li, Shi & Wang, Xiaojun, 2004. "Sorting, Selection, and Transformation of the Return to College Education in China," IZA Discussion Papers 1446, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Belton M Fleisher & Haizheng Li & Shi Li & Xiaojun Wang, 2005. "Sorting, Selection, and Transformation of Return to College Education in China," Working Papers 200507, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-19.


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