The 45th Xi Xian Forum, co-hosted by IIDPF and the School of Public Finance and Taxation, was successfully held on 17 November 2023 in Room 119 of Wenqin Building. Assistant Professor Zhang Yi from the Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research of Central University of Financial and Economics, as the guest speaker of the forum, gave a keynote speech entitled“Who Benefit Most from Post-Compulsory Education in China? A Marginal Treatment Effect Analysis”. The academic forum was hosted by Professor Ma Yuanyuan, the researcher of IIDPF, with the participation of Assistant Professor Yan Weibo and Assistant Professor Zhang Ziyao from the School of Public Finance and Taxation, and over twenty faculty members and students, including researchers Dr Wan Xin, Dr Wan Qian, and Dr Zou Wei from IIDPF.
The Compulsory Education Law, enacted in 1986, provides, “Compulsory education shall be under the leadership of the State Council, be carried out under the overall planning by the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and be mainly administered by the people’s governments at the county level.” The implementation of hierarchical management under the leadership of the central government is of great significance to the Chinese model of compulsory education reform and development. The study of the heterogeneous effects of returns to education has received a lot of attention in recent years, and a recent dimension of the discussion on heterogeneity is the study of heterogeneity in resistance to education. The research by Zhang Yi, utilizing data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and employing a Marginal Treatment Effect (MTE) framework, investigated the heterogeneous returns to post-compulsory education (high school degree or above) in China. The findings indicated that individuals who have received post-compulsory education have higher incomes compared to those who have not, with post-compulsory education leading to an approximate 100% increase in after-tax wages. Further analysis revealed that 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.
Assistant Professor Zhang Yi gave a wonderful speech to the faculty and students present and at the same time triggered their in-depth thinking. In the discussion session, the attending faculty and students actively interacted regarding the research background, theoretical models and empirical evidence.
