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Does vocational education pay off in China? Instrumental-variable quantile-regression evidence

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  • Dai, Li
  • Martins, Pedro S.

Abstract

As China's firms upgrade their position in the quality ladder, vocational education may become more important. In this paper, we study returns to secondary vocational education in China paying attention to individual heterogeneity. We use instrumental variables based on geographical and longitudinal changes in enrolment to address the selection between the two types of education. We find that vocational education provides a wage premium vis-à-vis academic education of over 30% but which applies only for individuals at the middle of the conditional wage distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Dai, Li & Martins, Pedro S., 2020. "Does vocational education pay off in China? Instrumental-variable quantile-regression evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 495, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:495
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Jie & Pastore, Francesco, 2021. "Does Vocational Education Pay Better, or Worse, Than Academic Education?," IZA Discussion Papers 14445, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Dai, Li & Martins, Pedro S., 2024. "The Wage Effects of Polytechnic Degrees: Evidence from the 1999 China Higher Education Expansion," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1399, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Jie Chen & Francesco Pastore, 2024. "Dynamics of returns to vocational education in China: 2010–2017," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. 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).
    5. Joop Hartog & Pedro Raposo & Hugo Reis, 2022. "Fluctuations in the wage gap between vocational and general secondary education: lessons from Portugal," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 643-675, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; vocational education; quantile treatment effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • C36 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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