Returns to Education Using a Sample of Twins: Evidence from Japan*

The objective of this article is to measure the causal effect of education on earnings using a large dataset of twins compiled in Japan with wide‐ranging socioeconomic information. Recent research conducted in China showed that, contrary to the case in Western countries, ability bias is large in estimating the return to education. It is argued that the low rate of return in China is in part due to the competitive and exam‐oriented education system, which is similar to the system in Japan. The empirical results in our study show that the estimated rate of return to education using the sample of identical twins in Japan is 9.3 percent even after omitted ability bias and measurement errors in self‐reported schooling were corrected. Our findings suggest that the conventional OLS estimate is not significantly contaminated by potential biases in Japan.     

Gender Difference in Returns to Education Independent of Gender Wage Gap in Korea*

This study examined the difference between male and female groups’ return on investment (ROI) in education independent of the average gender wage gap. Women’s additional ROI in education was significant and positively estimated. Furthermore, the ROI in women’s education was consistently higher than that in men regardless of educational stage, except for graduate education. These gender differences were greater in the younger generation than in the older generation and have decreased significantly in the recent ten years in high school education. Although the additional ROI in women’s education was positive in the field of culture and arts, education’s effect on wage increases in professional occupations was less than in men, especially in the fields of law and medicine. In addition, we show that gender differences in ROI in education were countercyclical. A base effect, large wage declines for low‐educated women during recessions, could explain this phenomenon. However, coinciding with the existence of positive cash flow news in the stock market that promises good business performance, a significant wage increase among highly educated women was found.     

Gender, poverty and deprivation: Evidence from the Republic of Guinea

The article examines the relationship between gender and consumption poverty and between gender and deprivation in the Republic of Guinea. National household survey data reveal that women are not more likely than men to be consumption poor or to suffer greater consumption poverty. Participatory Poverty Assessment data from the village of Kamatiguia reveal that women are “worse off” than men when deprivation includes, inter alia, excessive work load and reduced decision-making authority. When consumption poverty poorly correlates with other dimensions of deprivation, it should not be the sole guide for equity-based policy intervention.     

Parental Education and Child Health: Evidence from China*

This paper examines the effect of parental, household and community character‐istics on the health of children in China. We find that birth order, death of elder siblings, use of prenatal care and alcohol consumption by the mother when pregnant have statistically significant effects on the health of children. Although parental education does not have a significant direct effect on child health, it does affect mothers’ behavior during pregnancy and inflfluences the use of health inputs, indirectly impacting the health of children. The research findings have important implications for both family planning programs and broader social policies in China.     

Regional Characteristics,Industry Agglomeration and Location Choice: Evidence from Japanese Manufacturing Investments in Korea*

Using extensive firm‐level data for the years 1998–2006, we analyze the regional location decision of Japanese manufacturing foreign direct investors in Korea by focusing on the role of agglomeration economies. Our logit estimates indicate that horizontal agglomeration matters in the location decision, but vertical agglomeration does not. Strong evidence of country‐of‐origin effects is found. Japanese foreign direct investments in high‐technology industries show a typical ‘follow‐the‐leader’ pattern, while those in the in low‐technology industries are influenced by regional endowments. In addition, Japan's high‐technology firms are likely to prefer urban locations so that they can enjoy the externalities of business services.     

Occupational Segregation and its Effect on Estimates of the Gender Wage Differential: Evidence from Brunei

This paper investigates the impact of the different occupational distributions of the gender groups on the gender wage differential in Brunei. We disaggregate occupational differences into explained and unexplained portions as this can provide better estimates of across-occupation and within-occupation wage differentials. Using data from the Brunei 1995 Labor Force Survey report, results indicated that the gender wage difference is approximately 60%. Unlike other studies, it is found that in Brunei the unexplained portion of occupational segregation has had an impact on gender wage differentials and accounts for approximately one-third of the observed gap. Interestingly, the unexplained component of the within-occupation gap is relatively less than in some developed economies. This is attributed to the effects of the large public sector in Brunei and its regulated pay scales.     

Education and Earnings in Transition: The Case of Lao*

This paper is a study on the returns to education in Lao, a country that has been largely neglected by the published literature. The authors found that the private rates of returns to education have risen significantly with economic transition. In particular, returns for young workers are considerably higher than for older workers. Although large earnings premiums are generally received by workers with high levels of education, the most profitable investment in education for a large number of paid employees is still the primary level. Moreover, there are the significant public–private sector wage differentials. The research findings have important implications for public sector salaries and the financing of education in Lao.     

受教育年限、阶层认同与幸福感——来自委托-代理理论和CGSS的证据

所谓“苟不教,性乃迁”,教育自古是引导个人身心发展的有效工具,同样也是国家百年大计之根本。在个人和国家都越来越重视幸福感的今天,教育对幸福感是否以及如何发挥作用,便是文章的研究主题。文章基于经济理论和实证研究方法,使用委托-代理理论一般模型原理和中国综合社会调查项目(CGSS)的调查数据,理论上和实证上验证了教育与幸福感的正相关关性,并深入研究了教育对幸福感的作用机制。研究发现,受教育年限越长即学历越高的人,幸福感相对更强。进一步对不同群体展开分析,显示受教育年限为男性带来的幸福感略高于女性;为45岁以下群体带来的幸福感要高于45岁以上群体;除此之外受教育年限对幸福感的影响还存在区域差异,其为农村群体带来的幸福感要高于城市群体。并且实证证据表明教育是可以通过阶层认同感来影响幸福感,“受教育年限—阶层认同感—幸福感”这一幸福感作用机制成立。以上结论说明,个人可以通过教育这一工具来提升自己的幸福感,同时政府在推进居民幸福提升的进程中,应坚定不移地推进乡村振兴人才队伍建设及十二年义务教育试点工作,支持女性及其专项教育事业,关注中老年群体身心健康。     

教育公平视角下民办高校学生资助体系的构建

民办高校现行的学生资助体系在运行过程中存在诸多问题：获取的贫困生资助金额配比低、贫困生认定机制存在缺陷、贫困生的资助力度不均衡以及＂奖学型＂与＂助学型＂资助的关系失衡等。通过对存在的不公平现状及其成因进行分析,提出相应措施来构建公平的学生资助新体系。     

论我国社会主义市场经济条件下教育平等权及其实现方式

教育平等权是我国宪法赋予公民的一项基本权利,但教育平等权是具有历史的范畴,无论是其内容还是实现方式,都决定于社会的经济关系、经济结构和一定的社会生产力水平.现阶段我国社会主义市场经济这一重要经济形式,影响并决定着教育平等权的内容和实现方式.在我国社会主义市场经济条件下,教育平等权有何特点?其内容是什么?教育平等权有哪些实现的方式?对这些问题的研究,不仅有助于我们对教育平等权的正确理解,而且有助于正确的教育政策的制定与实施,促进我国宪法赋予公民的教育平等权的实现.     

Does Trade,Technology, or Education Expel Traditional Sectors? Some Evidence from the Collapse of the Silk Sector in South Korea*

Rapid economic growth and development often drives out traditional activities. We determine how increased trade, technology, and access to education in South Korea led to the collapse of its silk sector. Results show that although the imports of silk yarn and fabric reduced domestic silk output and prices, trade liberalization was not the sole contributor to the collapse. Inelastic labor demand for unskilled workers, skill‐biased technology, and especially increased access to education all led to a sharp rise in the relative wage of unskilled workers, and the ensuing rise in production costs contributed to the silk sector's collapse.     

Openness,Regional Trade Agreements and Growth: Evidence from Asia*

This paper assesses the relationship between regional trade agreements, trade integration and economic growth in 21 South and South‐East Asian countries over the period from 1980 to 2004. We aim to answer the following questions. First, how does the trade policy of a given country (and countries within the same region) affect a nation's domestic growth? Second, should developing economies in South and South‐East Asia engage in regional trade agreements (RTA) or move towards broad liberalization? Our results show that openness of either a single country or of its neighbors does not affect a nation's growth and that the impacts of RTA are unclear (if not detrimental to growth in some cases, once endogeneity is accounted for). Panel Granger‐causality tests running from openness to growth yield mixed results and some conclusions depend on the particular subsample under scrutiny.     

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。