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Private Educational Expenditure Inequality between Migrant and Urban Households in China’s Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Yiwen Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Shangdong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271000, China)

  • Ioana Salagean

    (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, 1468 Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

  • Benteng Zou

    (Department of Economics and Management, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg, 1359 Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

Abstract

This paper studies households’ expenditure on the education of children in China’s cities to assess how internal migrant families’ investment in the human capital of their offspring differs from that of local urban families. The private education-related expenditure reflects both households’ willingness to invest in human capital and institutional constraints, as China’s household registration (hukou) system prevents children without a local city hukou from enrolling in urban public schools. In-school fees (consisting of statutory tuition and institutional tuition fees) are commonly topped-up with substantial private tutoring expenditure. We apply multiple regression to the 2008 “Rural–Urban Migration Survey in China” data to analyze the average expenditure differences between temporary migrants, permanent migrants and locals. The findings are, after controlling for social and economic characteristics, that: (1) the overall spending on education of migrant households overwhelmingly exceeds that of locals, which is expected since migrants must finance privately all education-related expenses their children incur; (2) migrant households spend more on institutional tuition fees compared to households with a local city hukou, reflecting the varying severity of administrative hurdles faced by families; and (3) temporary migrants spend more on institutional tuition fees than permanent migrant households, but less in private tutoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Yiwen Chen & Ioana Salagean & Benteng Zou, 2024. "Private Educational Expenditure Inequality between Migrant and Urban Households in China’s Cities," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:12:y:2024:i:10:p:277-:d:1499246
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Song, Yang, 2014. "What should economists know about the current Chinese hukou system?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-212.
    5. Chen, Yuanyuan & Feng, Shuaizhang, 2013. "Access to public schools and the education of migrant children in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 75-88.
    6. Mehtap Akgüç & Corrado Giulietti & Klaus Zimmermann, 2014. "The RUMiC longitudinal survey: fostering research on labor markets in China," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Chi, Wei & Qian, Xiaoye, 2016. "Human capital investment in children: An empirical study of household child education expenditure in China, 2007 and 2011," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-65.
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