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Returns to Education in China: A Meta-analysis

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  • Sefa Awaworyi
  • Vinod Mishra

Abstract

Within labour economics, returns to education is an area of focused research. Moreover, amongst the studies looking at the emerging economies, China is the most widely studied economy. While there is general consensus that returns to education are positive, studies use various datasets and methodologies, and consequently present varying estimates of the returns to education. We perform a meta-analysis of the estimates of the returns to education in China, which addresses issues of heterogeneity in the existing literature and examines if variations in reported estimates could be explained by study characteristics such as dataset and estimation methods amongst others. After controlling for publication selection bias, precision effect and funnel asymmetry test (PET/FAT) results indicate that an additional year of schooling is associated with 17.26% increase in income. Meta-regression analysis (MRA) results show that moderating variables and study characteristics account for 53.92% of variations in reported estimates. After controlling for moderating variables, MRA results suggest that the association between education and income in China is 10.25%.

Suggested Citation

  • Sefa Awaworyi & Vinod Mishra, 2014. "Returns to Education in China: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 41-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-41
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