[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mos/moswps/2014-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Returns to Education in China: A Meta-analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sefa Awaworyi
  • Vinod Mishra
Abstract
Within labour economics, returns to education is an area of focused research. Moreover, amongst the studies looking at the emerging economies, China is the most widely studied economy. While there is general consensus that returns to education are positive, studies use various datasets and methodologies, and consequently present varying estimates of the returns to education. We perform a meta-analysis of the estimates of the returns to education in China, which addresses issues of heterogeneity in the existing literature and examines if variations in reported estimates could be explained by study characteristics such as dataset and estimation methods amongst others. After controlling for publication selection bias, precision effect and funnel asymmetry test (PET/FAT) results indicate that an additional year of schooling is associated with 17.26% increase in income. Meta-regression analysis (MRA) results show that moderating variables and study characteristics account for 53.92% of variations in reported estimates. After controlling for moderating variables, MRA results suggest that the association between education and income in China is 10.25%.

Suggested Citation

  • Sefa Awaworyi & Vinod Mishra, 2014. "Returns to Education in China: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 41-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-41
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/eco/research/papers/2014/4114returnsawaworyomishra.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ren, Weiwei & Miller, Paul W., 2012. "Changes over time in the return to education in urban China: Conventional and ORU estimates," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 154-169.
    2. Jasper M. Dalhuisen & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & JHenri L. F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Price and Income Elasticities of Residential Water Demand: A Meta-Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 79(2), pages 292-308.
    3. Magnani, Elisabetta & Zhu, Rong, 2012. "Gender wage differentials among rural–urban migrants in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 779-793.
    4. Chris (hristos) Doucouliagos & Patrice Laroche, 2009. "Unions and Profits: A Meta-Regression Analysis," Post-Print hal-02138153, HAL.
    5. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Stanley, T. D. & Doucouliagos, Chris, 2007. "Identifying and correcting publication selection bias in the efficiency-wage literature: Heckman Meta-Regression," Working Papers eco_2007_11, Deakin University, Department of Economics.
    7. Tao Yang, Dennis, 2004. "Education and allocative efficiency: household income growth during rural reforms in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 137-162, June.
    8. Stanley, T. D. & Jarrell, Stephen B. & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2010. "Could It Be Better to Discard 90% of the Data? A Statistical Paradox," The American Statistician, American Statistical Association, vol. 64(1), pages 70-77.
    9. Mehmet Ugur, 2014. "Corruption'S Direct Effects On Per-Capita Income Growth: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 472-490, July.
    10. Li, Hongbin & Liu, Pak Wai & Zhang, Junsen, 2012. "Estimating returns to education using twins in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 494-504.
    11. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    12. Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 1999. "Earnings and education in China's transition to a market economy Survey evidence from 1989 and 1992," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 17-40.
    13. Wang, Le, 2012. "Economic transition and college premium in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 238-252.
    14. CHEN, Guifu & HAMORI, Shigeyuki, 2009. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China: OLS and the instrumental variables approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 143-152, June.
    15. Messinis, George, 2013. "Returns to education and urban-migrant wage differentials in China: IV quantile treatment effects," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 39-55.
    16. Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863, Elsevier.
    17. Ronald Coase & Ning Wang, 2012. "China in Transition," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: How China Became Capitalist, chapter 2, pages 22-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    18. Zhang, Tao & Zou, Heng-fu, 2001. "The growth impact of intersectoral and intergovernmental allocation of public expenditure: With applications to China and India," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 58-81.
    19. Hristos Doucouliagos & Mehmet Ali Ulubaşoğlu, 2008. "Democracy and Economic Growth: A Meta‐Analysis," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 61-83, January.
    20. Hristos Doucouliagos & T. D. Stanley, 2009. "Publication Selection Bias in Minimum‐Wage Research? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 406-428, June.
    21. Byron, Rayond P & Manaloto, Evelyn Q, 1990. "Returns to Education in China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 783-796, July.
    22. T. D. Stanley, 2008. "Meta‐Regression Methods for Detecting and Estimating Empirical Effects in the Presence of Publication Selection," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 103-127, February.
    23. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Lili Kang & Fei Peng, 2012. "A selection analysis of returns to education in China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 535-554, March.
    25. Li, Haizheng, 2003. "Economic transition and returns to education in China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 317-328, June.
    26. Alan De Brauw & Scott Rozelle, 2008. "Reconciling the Returns to Education in Off‐Farm Wage Employment in Rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 57-71, February.
    27. Belton M. Fleisher & Haizheng Li & Shi Li & Xiaojun Wang, 2000. "Sorting, Selection, and Transformation of the Return to College Education In China," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp756, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    28. repec:bla:pacecr:v:9:y:2004:i:3:p:191-207 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. CAI, Fang & DU, Yang, 2011. "Wage increases, wage convergence, and the Lewis turning point in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 601-610.
    30. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell, 2013. "Economic returns to schooling for China's Korean minority," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 89-102.
    31. Zhong, Hai, 2011. "Returns to higher education in China: What is the role of college quality?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 260-275, June.
    32. T. D. Stanley & Stephen B. Jarrell, 2005. "Meta‐Regression Analysis: A Quantitative Method of Literature Surveys," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 299-308, July.
    33. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1995. "Time-Series Minimum-Wage Studies: A Meta-analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 238-243, May.
    34. Haiqing Zhang & Linxiu Zhang & Renfu Luo & Qiang Li, 2008. "Does Education Still Pay Off in Rural China: Revisit the Impact of Education on Off‐farm Employment and Wages," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 16(2), pages 50-65, March.
    35. Meng, Xin & Kidd, Michael P., 1997. "Labor Market Reform and the Changing Structure of Wage Determination in China's State Sector during the 1980s," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 403-421, December.
    36. repec:bla:pacecr:v:9:y:2004:i:3:p:155-171 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Knight, John B & Song, Lina, 1991. "The Determinants of Urban Income Inequality in China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 53(2), pages 123-154, May.
    38. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    39. John Knight & Lina Song, 2003. "Increasing urban wage inequality in China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(4), pages 597-619, December.
    40. Efendic, Adnan & Pugh, Geoff & Adnett, Nick, 2011. "Institutions and economic performance: A meta-regression analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 586-599, September.
    41. Zhang, Junsen & Zhao, Yaohui & Park, Albert & Song, Xiaoqing, 2005. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China, 1988 to 2001," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 730-752, December.
    42. Qinghua Zhang & Heng-Fu Zou, 2007. "Returns to education, productivity, and economic growth in China," CEMA Working Papers 292, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    43. Li, Tianyou & Zhang, Junsen, 1998. "Returns to education under collective and household farming in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 307-335, August.
    44. Liu, Zhiqiang, 1998. "Earnings, Education, and Economic Reforms in Urban China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(4), pages 697-725, July.
    45. Lang, Kevin, 1993. "Ability Bias, Discount Rate Bias and the Return to Education," MPRA Paper 24651, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    46. Laura De Dominicis & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Henri L. F. De Groot, 2008. "A Meta‐Analysis On The Relationship Between Income Inequality And Economic Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(5), pages 654-682, November.
    47. Weiwei Ren & Paul W. Miller, 2012. "Gender Differentials in the Payoff to Schooling in Rural China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 133-150, September.
    48. Fleisher, Belton M. & Hu, Yifan & Li, Haizheng & Kim, Seonghoon, 2011. "Economic transition, higher education and worker productivity in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 86-94, January.
    49. Björn Gustafsson & Shi Li, 2000. "Economic transformation and the gender earnings gap in urban China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 305-329.
    50. Hristos Doucouliagos & Patrice Laroche, 2009. "Unions and Profits: A meta-regression Analysis," Post-Print hal-00648569, HAL.
    51. Martin Carnoy & Prashant Loyalka & Gregory Androushchak & Anna Proudnikova, 2012. "The Economic Returns to Higher Education in the BRIC Countries and their Implications for Higher Education Expansion," HSE Working papers WP BRP 02/EDU/2012, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jianhua Duan & Kuntal K. Das & Laura Meriluoto & W. Robert Reed, 2019. "Spillovers and Exports: A Meta-Analysis," Working Papers in Economics 19/19, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    2. Fengyan Dai & Fang Cai & Yu Zhu, 2022. "Returns to higher education in China – evidence from the 1999 higher education expansion using a fuzzy regression discontinuity," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 489-494, March.
    3. Yao, Yao & Chen, George S. & Salim, Ruhul & Yu, Xiaojun, 2018. "Schooling returns for migrant workers in China: Estimations from the perspective of the institutional environment in a rural setting," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 240-256.
    4. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Does the pay period matter in estimating returns to schooling? Evidence from East Africa," Discussion Papers 2021-01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    5. Huang, Bin & Zhu, Yu, 2020. "Higher Education Expansion, the Hukou System, and Returns to Education in China," IZA Discussion Papers 12954, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Ji Ting, 2019. "Aggregate implications of occupational inheritance in China and India," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-24, January.
    7. Ichiro Iwasaki & Xinxin Ma, 2021. "Returns to Secondary and Tertiary Education in China - A Meta-Analysis," Asian Economics Letters, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 3(Early Vie), pages 1-8.
    8. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    9. Huang, Bin & Tani, Massimiliano & Wei, Yi & Zhu, Yu, 2022. "Returns to education in China: Evidence from the great higher education expansion," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Jianhua Duan & Kuntal K. Das & Laura Meriluoto & W. Robert Reed, 2020. "Estimating the effect of spillovers on exports: a meta-analysis," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(2), pages 219-249, May.
    11. Prakash, Kushneel & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2022. "Are you puffing your Children's future away? Energy poverty and childhood exposure to passive smoking," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Xinxin Ma & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Does communist party membership bring a wage premium in China? a meta-analysis," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 55-94, January.
    13. Ichiro Iwasaki & Xinxin Ma, 2020. "Gender wage gap in China: a large meta-analysis," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Xinxin Ma & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Return to schooling in China: a large meta-analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 379-410, July.
    15. Chen, Jie & Pastore, Francesco, 2021. ""Study hard and make progress every day": Updates on returns to education in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 787, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. M Niaz Asadullah & Saizi Xiao, 2019. "Labor Market Returns to Education and English Language Skills in the People's Republic of China: An Update," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(1), pages 80-111, March.
    17. Tatiana Klyachko & Elena Semionova, 2018. "Contribution of Education to the Socio-Economic Development of the Subjects of the Russian Federation," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(3), pages 791-805.
    18. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell & Sun, Gong & Li, Jie & Wang, Wangshuai, 2022. "University education, homeownership and housing wealth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Xiaorong Gu, 2021. "Parenting for Success: The Value of Children and Intensive Parenting in Post-Reform China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 555-581, April.
    20. W. Robert Reed, 2020. "A Note on the Use of Partial Correlation Coefficients in Meta-Analyses," Working Papers in Economics 20/08, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    21. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Iqbal, Nasir & Nawaz, Saima & Yew, Siew Ling, 2021. "Unconditional cash transfers, child labour and education: theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 437-457.
    22. Dai, Fengyan & Xu, Lei & Zhu, Yu, 2022. "Higher education expansion and supply of teachers in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    23. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Hoang M. Luong & Mehmet Ugur, 2022. "Does intellectual property protection deliver economic benefits? A multi‐outcome meta‐regression analysis of the evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1477-1509, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M Niaz Asadullah & Saizi Xiao, 2019. "Labor Market Returns to Education and English Language Skills in the People's Republic of China: An Update," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(1), pages 80-111, March.
    2. CHEN, Guifu & HAMORI, Shigeyuki, 2009. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China: OLS and the instrumental variables approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 143-152, June.
    3. 岩﨑, 一郎 & Iwasaki, Ichiro & 馬, 欣欣 & Ma, Xin Xin, 2019. "現代中国における男女賃金格差: メタ分析による接近," Discussion Paper Series 689, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    4. Lee, Soohyung & Malin, Benjamin A., 2013. "Education's role in China's structural transformation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 148-166.
    5. Ichiro Iwasaki & Xinxin Ma, 2020. "Gender wage gap in China: a large meta-analysis," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Hai Fang & Karen N. Eggleston & John A. Rizzo & Scott Rozelle & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 2012. "The Returns to Education in China: Evidence from the 1986 Compulsory Education Law," NBER Working Papers 18189, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Ma, Xinxin, 2020. "Gender Wage Gap in China: A Large Meta-Analysis," CEI Research Paper Series 2020-5, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    8. Lili Kang & Fei Peng, 2012. "A selection analysis of returns to education in China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 535-554, March.
    9. Castro Campos, Bente & Ren, Yanjun & Petrick, Martin, 2016. "The impact of education on income inequality between ethnic minorities and Han in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 253-267.
    10. Wenshu Gao & Russell Smyth, 2012. "Returns to Schooling in Urban China, 2001-2010: Evidence from Three Waves of the China Urban Labor Survey," Monash Economics Working Papers 50-12, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    11. Zhong, Hai, 2011. "Returns to higher education in China: What is the role of college quality?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 260-275, June.
    12. Zhang, Junsen & Zhao, Yaohui & Park, Albert & Song, Xiaoqing, 2005. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China, 1988 to 2001," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 730-752, December.
    13. Lin Xiu & Morley Gunderson, 2013. "Credential Effects and the Returns to Education in China," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(2), pages 225-248, June.
    14. Liu, C., 2018. "Reconciling Returns to Education in Off-Farm Wage Employment among Women in Rural China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276941, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2020. "Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Theory and Evidence from China and India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 497, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Vinod Mishra & Russell Smyth, 2012. "Returns to Schooling in Urban China: New Evidence Using Heteroskedasticity Restrictions to Obtain Identification Without Exclusion Restrictions," Monash Economics Working Papers 33-12, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    17. Yao, Yao & Chen, George S. & Salim, Ruhul & Yu, Xiaojun, 2018. "Schooling returns for migrant workers in China: Estimations from the perspective of the institutional environment in a rural setting," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 240-256.
    18. Lijia Guo & Jiashun Huang & You Zhang, 2019. "Education Development in China: Education Return, Quality, and Equity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Cui, Yuling & Nahm, Daehoon & Tani, Massimiliano, 2013. "Earnings Differentials and Returns to Education in China, 1995-2008," IZA Discussion Papers 7349, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Wang, Le, 2012. "Economic transition and college premium in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 238-252.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Schooling; Earnings; China; Meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Simon Angus (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dxmonau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.