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Inequality of opportunity and household education expenditures: Evidence from panel data in China

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  • Song, Yang
  • Zhou, Guangsu

Abstract

This paper offers one of the first pieces of empirical evidence on the impact of inequality of opportunity on household education investment by using the panel data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in three waves (2010, 2012 and 2014). Our result suggests that inequality of opportunity has a negative effect on household education expenditures. This result is robust to a series of robustness checks. Furthermore, for relatively disadvantaged households (household heads with less education, income, or rural hukou status), inequality of opportunity has a larger negative effect on their education expenditures. Policy suggestions to lower inequality of opportunity may include reducing labor market discrimination based on gender and hukou status, balancing education resources to create more equal educational opportunities, and offering children education subsidies in low-income families.

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  • Song, Yang & Zhou, Guangsu, 2019. "Inequality of opportunity and household education expenditures: Evidence from panel data in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 85-98.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:55:y:2019:i:c:p:85-98
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2019.03.002
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    9. Dai, Xinchen & Li, Jing, 2021. "Inequality of opportunity in China: Evidence from pseudo panel data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
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    11. Dong, Shizheng & Zhang, Zili & Han, Yiduo & Si, Yanwu, 2023. "Do pension subsidies reduce household education expenditure inequality? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 532-540.
    12. Paul Hufe & Andreas Peichl & Daniel Weishaar, 2022. "Lower and upper bound estimates of inequality of opportunity for emerging economies," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 58(3), pages 395-427, April.
    13. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2024. "Parental early-life exposure to land reform and household investment in children’s education," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
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    16. Ana Su rez lvarez & Ana Jes s L pez Men ndez, 2018. "Inequality of Opportunity in Developing countries: Does the income aggregate matter?," LIS Working papers 739, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Ana Suárez Álvarez & Ana Jesús López Menéndez, 2020. "Trends in Inequality of Opportunity for Developing Countries: Does the Economic Indicator Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 503-539, June.
    18. Qin, Xiaodi & Wu, Haitao & Li, Rongrong, 2022. "Digital finance and household carbon emissions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. Anis Ochi & Yosra Saidi, 2022. "Do Tunisian Children Have an Equal Chance to Access to School 8 Years After Revolution?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 2007-2029, September.
    20. Tan, Weiqiang & Xie, Chenxin & Ye, Dezhu, 2024. "Do urban educational resources affect corporate labor costs?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    21. Ye, Juntao & Cai, Liming & Shi, Xinjie & Cheng, Mingwang, 2024. "Pursuing a brighter future: Impact of the Hukou reform on human capital investment in migrant children in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income inequality; Inequality of opportunity; Education expenditures; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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