Xi Xian Forum of Income Distribution and Public Finance(Phase 45)
Topic:Who Benefit Most from Post-Compulsory Education in China? A Marginal Treatment Effect Analysis
Speaker：
Dr Zhang Yi
Centre for Human Capital and Labour Market Research, Central University of Finance and Economics
Host：
Professor Ma Yuanyuan
IIDPF
Time:
Friday, 17 November 2023
Venue:Conference Room 119, Wenqin Building
Abstract:
We examine heterogeneous returns to post-compulsory education attainment (high school degree or above) in China by exploiting the variation in the educational attainment caused by a reform that introduces compulsory education with different implementation dates across provinces. Using data from China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we find that individuals who are less likely to have post-compulsory education have higher returns to education. This finding contradicts the common conclusion on post-compulsory education that individuals select them into education based on gains. One explanation for this pattern is that children who are less likely to be enrolled in the education system have more disadvantaged backgrounds and lower wages without educational attainment. Education acts as an equalizer that leads to more homogeneous wages, resulting in larger returns for children who are less likely to be reached by post-compulsory education.
Brief Bio:
Zhang Yi is an Assistant Professor at the Research Centre for Human Capital and Labour Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, and received her PhD in Economics from Tilburg University in 2020. Assistant Professor Zhang's current research interests are in health economics, labour economics and education economics. Her research includes the impact of retirement policies on healthcare service utilisation, and the study of labour supply and welfare substitution effects of disability insurance reform in the Netherlands. She chairs the National Natural Science Foundation of China's youth programme and a joint research project with Hitotsubashi University in Japan, and participates in a number of projects at various levels. Her research has been published in Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, China Economic Review, Applied Economics, Empirical Economics and so on.