中国城镇地区高等教育外部回报率估算

高等教育既能带来个人回报也能带来社会回报。本文采用CHNS微观调研数据,通过对不同省份的相似个体进行比较,识别由于各省高等教育人口比重不同带来的工资差异,估算高等教育的外部回报率。通过引入高等教育扩招的虚拟变量验证扩招前后高等教育的私人和外部回报率变化。实证结果表明,我国高等教育外部回报率显著为正;扩招以后高等教育外部回报率出现显著提高;高等教育外部性有缩小技能工人和非技能工人工资差距的趋势。     

教育收益率、行业与工资的性别差异:基于西部三个城市的经验研究

本文通过使用扩展的性别工资差异分解方法对中国西部城市的性别行业进入差异和行业内部工资差异进行分解,分析了高等教育回报对行业选择和收入差异的影响。经验研究的基本结果包括:(1)在全部的性别工资差异上,由于男女的禀赋差异引起的可解释部分占差异的57.77%,歧视解释了总差异的42.24%,在歧视部分中,行业进入方面的对女性的歧视就占了1/3强的部分,行业内部的工资歧视占2/3左右;(2)对于受过高等教育的女性来说,存在显著的行业进入方面的不利性别偏向,在行业选择方面,女性的高等教育回报率低于男性。在低收入行业中,女性高等教育和"高中/职高"层次的教育其回报率都显著的高于男性,高收入行业内部则相反;(3)在可解释的行业和工资性别差异中,教育解释了其中的5%左右,并且教育具有显著的缩小行业进入性别差异的作用。在高收入行业内部,高等教育显著缩小了男女工资差异,而在低收入行业内部,高等教育解释力较弱,而经验和健康状况对于这部分差异贡献率较大。     

人力资本还是行业特征:中国行业间工资回报差异的成因分析

本文使用来自中国城镇家庭调查的横截面数据和行业中观数据,采用两步骤回归和z评分模型分析中国行业间工资回报差异的成因。研究发现,人力资本对行业工资回报具有正向作用;行业经济性垄断、所有制垄断和行业内单位经营性质等特征是行业工资回报差异扩大的重要原因,但行业工会化程度对工资回报的影响并不显著。研究结果表明,人力资本和行业特征均为中国行业间工资回报差异形成的原因,相比之下,行业特征的作用更为显著。中国政府在调控现阶段行业间工资回报差异的政策取向上,应更多关注行业特征。     

中国农村居民社会资本的经济回报

本文基于三县市农户的实地调查，结合农村居民“讨论网”和“借钱网”的调查资料，利用家庭收入模型估计了中国农村居民不同类型社会资本的经济回报率，通过相关统计数据考察了农村居民工具性社会资本的关系构成。结果表明：在中国农村，社会资本对农户家庭收入有显著正影响，社会资本的经济回报小于人力资本的经济回报；但不同类型社会资本的经济回报率不同，工具性社会资本具有较高的经济回报，情感性社会资本的经济回报并不显著。本文还发现，亲缘关系是农村居民工具性社会资本的主要提供者，除邻居以外其他的非亲缘关系所起作用甚微。因此，农民和政府都应重视并加强对社会资本，尤其是工具性社会资本的投资和积累，进一步拓宽农民社会交流渠道，使其获得更多的异质性资源，从而提高家庭收入，尽快摆脱贫困。     

经理层整体教育水平与上市公司经营绩效的实证研究

为了避开传统的劳动经济学模型中利用工资度量市场回报的缺陷,本文利用经营绩效指标托宾Q,通过对1999年到2003年间中国上市公司综列数据的实证研究,发现经理层的整体教育水平与公司经营绩效之间显著的正相关关系。进一步的研究发现,教育的市场回报率在市场经济发达程度不同的地区表现出不同的显著性程度,经济发达地区上市公司经理层整体教育水平对公司绩效的作用更加显著。在方法论上,本文根据中国公司治理结构的特殊性,巧妙地处理了教育本身的内生性问题。     

重点高中带来的工资溢价：来自大学生就业调查的证据北大核心CSSCI

本文利用大学毕业生就业调查2010、2013年的数据,估算就读重点高中对大学毕业生初始工资的影响。研究表明,给定个人和家庭特征以及高中前的学业表现,毕业于省重点高中的大学毕业生比其他大学毕业生起薪水平高出了约17%。重点高中起作用的主要渠道是重点高中的学生取得了更高的高考成绩并上了更好的大学和专业,这解释了约10个百分点的重点高中回报率。我们可以观测到高中阶段和大学期间的其他人力资本变量(如成绩排名等)贡献都很小,加起来不到1个百分点。因此,有将近5个百分点的回报率可以归为我们不可观测的能力(如自信心、表达沟通能力)或社会资源(如社交网络)的回报。此外,重点高中回报率没有明显的性别、城乡和年度差别。     

集体议价是否改善了工资水平:来自中国制造业企业的证据

本文基于企业层面的抽样数据,使用分位数回归方法研究了中国制造业企业中的工资决定因素,并对集体工资议价协议是否对工资决定产生作用给予了特别关注。研究发现: 整体而言,集体工资议价对于工资决定的影响存在所有制方面的差异,在国有企业当中的作用显著大于其他所有制企业。工会的存在与否对集体工资议价有一定的影响,且对职员的影响大于工人。此外,我们还发现员工的教育水平、培训投入、工作经验和本地同行业其他企业的工资水平等因素对工资水平有显著的正面影响,但是员工的教育水平对工资的影响主要体现在职员工资上,而工作经验的影响则主要体现在工人工资上。     

高校扩招与教育回报率的城乡差异——基于断点回归的设计

文章基于中国家庭收入调查项目数据（2007年与2013年）,在断点回归设计的框架下分析1999年实施的高校扩招政策对城乡居民受教育年限、收入及教育回报率的影响。结果表明：第一,高校扩招政策的实施使农村居民的平均受教育年限提高了0.59年左右,使城镇居民的平均受教育年限提高了0.85年左右。第二,在断点回归的设计下,农村居民的教育回报率大约为11%,城镇居民的教育回报率大约为8%,高于OLS的估计。虽然实证结果显示教育回报并不存在城乡间的马太效应,但并不意味者城乡间教育发展与收入差距缩小。第三,高校扩招政策一方面显著促进了城镇居民低收入群体教育回报的提升,有效抑制了城镇居民中可能出现的收入差异扩大的"马太效应"。另一方面,高校扩招政策使得农村居民高收入群体教育回报高于低收入群体,在一定程度上导致了农村居民收入差异扩大的"马太效应"。     

浅谈中国资本回报率研究现状

新一轮金融危机之后,中国的资本回报率出现了大幅度下降,曾引起了学者对中国经济持续增长力的担忧。在资本回报率持续下滑以及劳动力红利逐渐消失的背景下,传统规模扩张型增长道路越来越难以为继,因此探寻资本回报率提升的新型动力机制越发显得必要。文章研究了资本回报率研究的现状,并总结了目前对于资本回报率的影响因素,以期找出中国资本回报率下降的原因及可能的提升机制。     

人力资本特征与行业收入差距的相关性分析

本文采用2012年的行业收入及其相关因素的截面数据并对其进行统计分析,在控制行业特征的情况下研究人力资本特征对行业收入差距的影响。研究发现:①垄断依然是影响行业收入差距的重要因素;②受教育程度对行业工资回报有着很强的正向影响;③从业人员的平均年龄对工资收入差距的影响为负;④我国就业市场中的"性别歧视"现象仍然存在,在高收入行业中男性的比例要大于女性,而女性要进入高收入行业必须要有着更高的学历条件。     

The economic returns to proficiency in English in China

We examine economic returns to proficiency in English in China using two waves of the China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey (CLDS). We find positive earnings returns to proficiency in English. We find considerable heterogeneity in the economic returns to proficiency in English across age groups, coastal and inland provinces, levels of education and occupation. We find that the returns to proficiency in English are higher in the coastal region, higher for women and evidence of education-language and skill-language complementarity. We also see differences in the economic returns to English between urban and rural residents and between rural-urban migrants and urban locals. Our findings help to explain why the demand for learning English is so high in China, as well as having implications for the Chinese government at a time when it is re-evaluating the importance attached to learning English in the curriculum.     

Economic returns to English proficiency for college graduates in mainland China

The present study examines the economic returns to English proficiency for college graduates in Mainland China, paths through which English proficiency may affect earnings, and possible moderation effects and crowding-out effects of English proficiency on other human capital. The analysis results indicate that English proficiency had significant effects on college graduates' starting salaries, their probability of changing permanent residence status from rural to urban, and their future earning potential. Possible reasons for the economic returns to English proficiency include increased chances of working in the employment sector where the average income was higher than in the other sectors and improved opportunities of landing job interviews. English proficiency may mitigate the effects of GPA rankings on salaries. Meanwhile, it did not seem to have been achieved at the expense of other important human capital investments. The results have policy implications as well as contributing to the literature.     

Health outcomes,health inequality and Mandarin proficiency in urban China

We examine the health returns to proficiency in Mandarin in urban China using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies. We find that greater proficiency in Mandarin improves self-reported health, mental health and capacity to perform activities of daily living. We also examine the relationship between Mandarin proficiency and health inequality and the decomposition results show that differences in Mandarin proficiency account for between 2% and 20% of health inequality in urban China, depending on the health indicator. Our results suggest that promoting ‘standard Mandarin’ can serve as a vehicle to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequality.     

Economic returns to schooling in urban China: OLS and the instrumental variables approach

This paper examines economic returns to schooling in urban China using ordinary least square (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) methodologies. First, we find that OLS estimates of the returns to education are lower in China than in other transition economies, whereas IV estimates are higher in China. Second, we find that OLS, a method for estimating the returns to education without control for endogeneity bias, may underestimate the true rates of return for men. In addition, if we do not control for endogeneity bias and the sample selection bias, we may further underestimate the true rates of return for women. Finally, we find that OLS estimates of the returns to education for men are slightly higher than for women. The IV estimates for women are higher than those for men, and this difference increases after correcting for selectivity biases.     

The impacts of income gaps on migration decisions in China

Using survey data from China, this article examines the effects of income gaps on migration decisions and the sources of these gaps. The econometric results support the hypothesis that income gaps significantly influence migration decisions. When income gap reaches a certain level, the reaction of the migration probability to income gap is weaker for men than for women. The relative income of women is less sensitive to an increase in rural income but more sensitive to a decrease in urban income than that of men. Moreover, we find that the urban to rural income gap is larger for women than for men, which suggests that women receive larger monetary return from migration than men do. In decomposing income gaps, we find that the gap for men is largely determined by differences in the attributes of migrants and nonmigrants, whereas for women, the gap is mainly determined by differences in returns to attributes.     

Second language skills and labor market outcomes: Evidence from the handover of Hong Kong

This paper analyzes the effects of second languages skills on labor market outcomes in Hong Kong. Using data from the Hong Kong Population Censuses, we find that both Mandarin and English language skills are linked to improved labor market performance, and the premiums for English are much larger than those for Mandarin. We further show that the sovereignty transfer of Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997 has strengthened the positive role of Mandarin and English language skills in finding a job in Hong Kong. The political change has also increased the earnings of people with the ability to speak Mandarin. As a comparison, the earnings premium for speaking English has declined in magnitude after the sovereignty transfer. Investigating into the mechanisms, we show that the rising premiums for Mandarin language skills are operated through choices of occupations and industry sectors. Our findings suggest that important political changes can affect the economic returns to language skills in the labor market.     

Language and consumption

We examine the relationship between proficiency in Mandarin and consumption in China. We find that proficiency in Mandarin has a positive effect on an individual's total consumption expenditure as well as most categories of consumption expenditure. We also find considerable heterogeneity in the effects of Mandarin proficiency on consumption across subsamples. In addition, we find that proficiency in Mandarin has a positive effect on relative consumption, irrespective of the manner in which the reference group is defined. Our results have important policy implications for debates on the promotion of a national language and, in particular, recent debate about the promotion of speaking Mandarin in China.     

“关系”和教育对中国居民收入的影响——基于CGSS调查数据的实证分析

文章基于全国综合社会调查数据（CGSS）,利用OLS回归和分位数回归方法分析“关系”和教育对中国居民收入的影响。研究发现：“关系”和教育对中国居民的收入有正向促进作用,在选取有效的工具变量克服了“关系”和教育的内生性之后,上述结果依然稳健,并且“关系”和教育存在负向交叉效应。“关系”的回报率随着收入的增加而上升,而教育的回报率却随收入的增加而下降。比较“关系”和教育在不同的分位点对城镇居民和农村居民收入的影响后发现,农村居民“关系”的回报率随收入的增加而上升,而城镇居民“关系”的回报率呈“u”型,并且对在各个分位点上,城镇居民的教育回报率要高于农村居民的教育回报率。     

中国代际流动性：基于食品消费与收入视角的研究

代际流动性是衡量一个社会机会公平程度的重要指标,食品消费和收入的代际弹性分别从基本经济福利和整体经济禀赋两个方面对此进行反映。本文采用中国健康与营养调查数据,首次对中国食品消费的代际弹性进行了估计,并在同一数据库内将其与收入进行了比较。我们发现,与收入的代际弹性（0．427）相比,食品消费的代际弹性（0．879）更高,且在采用多年均值时更为稳定;同时,城镇户籍人口和受教育程度较高者拥有显著更高的代际收入流动性,而食品消费弹性在不同人群中的差异较小,显示基本经济福利和整体经济禀赋的代际不平等情况可能并不完全一致。     

Exclusive Growth? Rapidly Increasing Top Incomes Amid Low National Growth in South Africa

Despite South Africa’s need for inclusive economic growth, we find that the top income percentiles continue to diverge from the rest of the income distribution. We compare household survey data and tax data (which, unlike household survey data, includes accurate data for the very rich) to investigate the patterns of income growth over the period 2003 to 2018. We find that the gap between the stagnant middle and the top end of the income distribution widened, particularly over the post-recession period. We also show that the divergence was partly driven by high returns to capital for those with top incomes.