Gender,Sibling Order,and Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Education: Evidence from Japanese Twins*

Using information on 1045 pairs of Japanese monozygotic twins, we examined differences in education by considering both the years of schooling (quantity) and the reputation of the last attended school (quality). We found that a difference in learning performance at 15 years of age is one of the key factors determining the differences. We also found that a female eldest child in the family from the 1950s and 1960s birth cohorts averaged 0.54 years less schooling than did her ‘younger’ twin. However, for the same birth cohorts, a male eldest child in the family generally had access to higher‐quality education than his ‘younger’ twin. Nonetheless, as the Japanese economy matured in the 1970s and thereafter, educational differences between twins disappeared, regardless of gender and sibling order.     

Social Returns to Education: Macro-Evidence

Summary This paper presents new evidence on the social returns to education within a macroeconomic growth regression framework. I use improved schooling data and a macro version of the Mincer relationship between education and wages for individual workers. The results suggest that an increase by one year of the average education level of the labor force would increase labor productivity by 7–10% in the short run and by 11–15% in the long run. Some evidence is found for the presence of dynamic human capital spillovers: the human capital stock increases prospective economic growth. The empirical results are used to quantify the macroeconomic impact of skill upgrading as agreed upon in the European Union’s Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs. Finally, the paper discusses discrepancies between private and social returns to education. I would like to thank two referees, Dinand Webbink, Peter Wobst, and participants of the brown bag lunch seminar series at the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General of the European Commission for helpful comments. Views expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the European Commission or the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.     

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.     

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.     

中国证券市场的周期性异象检验

本文分析了6年多来中国证券市场大盘指数和基金指数的周内、月内及年内效应,并对其相互间的关联性进行了检验。实证表明,中国市场存在“周二周四”的周内效应;市场大盘指数2月份的收益率相对最高,基金指数在3月份、12月份的收益率较高,同时大盘指数和基金指数9月份的收益率都显著较低;各指数第三季度收益率相对最低;上半年收益率要高于下半年。联动性检验显示。周二、周四与月内的不同时段交互作用并不显著;周四与10月份对大部分市场大盘指数和基金指数有负的联动效应。     

Monetary and Nonmonetary Returns to Education in Indonesia

Some important aspects of returns to education in Indonesia have been neglected. This paper draws on the Indonesia Family Life Survey, a longitudinal survey, to shed some light on these aspects. This paper finds in a Mincerian specification that a more recent rate of return is in line with the rates found in previous research. A quantile regression is applied to show that the rate varies little in the conditional distribution of earnings, which stands in stark contrast to findings from some developed countries. In addition, the rate of return in self‐employment is estimated to be lower than that in paid employment for person‐ and sector‐specific reasons. In addition to monetary returns to education, happiness returns to education are considered. This paper advances evidence that education has important and robust implications for happiness above and beyond absolute and relative levels of income.     

Financial risk exposure of returns to education: Panel evidence from Korea*

The present study examined financial market risk exposure of human capital returns, which are represented by the returns to education, using panel data for Korea. Overall, financial market shocks seem to be irrelevant to returns to education. However, when we divide a financial market shock into cash flow news and discount rate news leading to a negative risk premium, returns to education increase after positive news about future cash flows and unexpected increases in discount rates Therefore, the risk exposure to cash flow shocks is offset by the exposure to discount rate shocks. The returns to education of low‐income workers were significantly exposed to the cash flow risk as compared to those with a high income, but they were offset by the positive correlation to discount rate shocks. In contrast, considering the gap between generations, the old generation was not only less exposed to the cash flow risk compared to the young generation regarding returns to education but also positively correlated with the discount rate shock, resulting in less exposure to financial market risks.     

中国教育收益率的结构分析——基于技术溢出的视角

本文主要从技术溢出的视角出发，讨论了中国教育收益率的结构特征，特别是不同教育水平的教育收益率比较。我们认为，随着教育水平的不断提升，工人不但可以使用国内更为先进的技术，由于技术溢出的存在他们还能够借鉴国外技术来突破国内技术。按照这种思路，我们在Nel—son-Phelps模型的基础上进行了扩展，将收益率对教育年数的偏导数分解为”技术溢出效应”和”收益递减效应”，并且说明我国的高等教育的收益率可能会更高，而技术性职业的收益率的增加速度会更快。1989—2006年7期CHNS数据支持了我们模型的结论。     

Technological Change and Returns to Education: The Implications for the S&E Labor Market

Abstract

This paper analyzes the earnings effect of skill-biased technological change (SBTC), focusing on the comparison of science and engineering (S&E) and non-S&E occupations. In the analysis, we assert that S&E occupations and non-S&E occupations differ in the nature of skill requirements and their susceptibility to technological change; and consequently the earnings effects of SBTC also demonstrate a similar impact. For the empirical analysis, the modified Mincerian earnings equations are estimated by quantile regressions as well as the ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage estimation method.

Fitted to Korean panel data, the earning-enhancing effect of SBTC is observed for male workers, not only for those in S&E occupations but also for those in non-S&E occupations. Such an effect is not observed for women in S&E occupations, and rather turns even negative for women in non-S&E occupations; envisaging a relatively large occurrence of work interruption of married women in Korea, we conjecture that this may reflect women workers’ skill deterioration taking place during a work interruption. The earnings effect of SBTC is most apparent for male workers in the higher quantiles of earnings distribution, implying that those who are highly educated and have high unobserved ability gain most from SBTC.     

School attendance and economic shocks: Evidence from rural Zimbabwe

Unpredicted shocks such as weather, pests or price changes affect agricultural households negatively or positively. The shocks have two opposite effects (income and substitution) on parents’ investments in the human capital of their children, and it is not predictable from theory whether the income effect or the substitution effect of a shock has a greater impact on the investments. Therefore, it is unknown whether human capital investments (i.e. sending children to school rather than having them work) are procyclical or countercyclical. In this paper we show how hyperinflation may affect investments in the education of children by their parents using three data-sets from Zimbabwe. We find that human capital investments are countercyclical (the substitution effect dominates) in rural areas of Zimbabwe during a shock. Therefore, policymakers in Zimbabwe need to be worried about decreased schooling of children during positive shocks in the rural areas.     

中国不同所有制部门的工资决定与教育回报:分位回归的证据

文中利用分位回归估计了不同所有制部门的工资方程.对于国有部门而言,1991、1993年的结果表明,低分位回归中的教育回报率比较高(1997年的结果没有明显的规律)。而对于私营经济而言,1993、1997年的结果表明,高分位回归中的教育回报率高于低分位回归。这种规律在城市和农村地区都是成立的。国有部门中处在收入条件分布低端的样本工资增长快于处在条件分布高端的样本,民营部门则没有这样的规律,甚至与之相反。     

Bilateral Trade Balances: Evidence from Malaysia*

This study examines the impacts of real exchange rates on the bilateral trade balances of Malaysia with the USA, Japan and Singapore. The results for the long‐run cointegrating vectors show that depreciation or devaluation of real exchange rates will improve bilateral trade balances. In the short run, there is some evidence of the J‐curve phenomenon. Changes in real money supply contribute greatly to changes in real exchange rates. Generally, changes in real exchange rates contribute significantly to changes in bilateral trade balances. Monetary policy can be used to influence bilateral trade balances.     

Relationship between Managerial Compensation and Business Performance in Japan: New Evidence Using Micro Data*

This paper examines the relationship between the level of managerial compensation and the quality of corporate governance in Japan in the period following the bubble burst of 1991–1995. There are three main findings. First, Japanese firms with weaker governance have greater agency problems in that managerial opportunism extracts higher compensation and the firm performs relatively worse. Second, these agency problems were more severe during the recessionary period of 1994–1995. Finally, governance structures in industries with higher managerial compensation are relatively weaker than in other industries.