Returns to Schooling in China Under Planning and Reform
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.Download Info
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Paper provided by William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan in its series William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series with number 2004-704.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:
- Fleisher, Belton M. & Wang, Xiaojun, 2005. "Returns to schooling in China under planning and reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 265-277, June.
- 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
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2005-03-20 (All new papers)
- NEP-DEV-2005-03-20 (Development)
- NEP-EDU-2005-03-20 (Education)
- NEP-LAB-2005-03-20 (Labour Economics)
- NEP-SEA-2005-03-20 (South East Asia)
- NEP-TRA-2005-03-20 (Transition Economics)
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Vinod Mishra & Russell Smyth, 2012. "Returns to Schooling in Urban China: New Evidence Using Heteroskedasticity Restrictions to Obtain Identification Without Exclusion Restrictions," Monash Economics Working Papers 33-12, Monash University, Department of Economics.
- Xu Tian & Xiaohua Yu, 2012.
"The Enigmas of TFP in China: A Meta-Analysis,"
Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers
113, Courant Research Centre PEG.
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"The Wage Effects of Schooling under Socialism and in Transition: Evidence from Romania, 1950-2000,"
Upjohn Working Papers and Journal Articles
jse20051, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
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- Daniela Andren & John S. Earle & Dana Sapatoru, 2004. "The Wage Effects of Schooling under Socialism and in Transition: Evidence from Romania, 1950-2000," Upjohn Working Papers and Journal Articles 04-108, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
- 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.
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Post-Communist Economies,
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