家庭借贷约束、公共教育支出与社会流动性

人力资本投资是增强社会流动性的重要手段,然而借贷约束使得底层家庭无力对子女进行最优的人力资本投资;与此同时,富裕家庭则不受借贷约束的影响,总体结果是社会流动性减弱。利用中国健康与养老追踪调查和全国综合社会调查数据,本文发现,借贷约束确实提高了居民收入和教育的代际传递弹性,降低了社会流动性。在匹配政府公共教育支出数据后发现,公共教育支出可以缓解家庭层面人力资本投资的不足,提高教育水平的代际流动性。

Family Credit Constraint, Public Education Expenditure, and Social Mobility in China

Human capital investment is an important way to break social immobilization. However, credit constraint prohibits families from optimally investing in children's human capital, which could strengthen the intergenerational transmission of human capital and income. Using data from CHARLS 2011 and CGSS 2008, this paper provides evidence on the impact of credit constraint on intergenerational mobility of income and education. By matching with public education expenditure data, we find that public education expenditure alleviates the credit constraint problem faced by poor families, and thus generates a positive effect on social mobility of education.