Topic:【Applied Microeconomics Seminar in CHLR】The impact of education expansion on Urban wages' inequality

Speaker: Juan YANG

Abstract: The findings on education expansion and income inequality have important implications for policymakers to implement effective policies to reduce income inequality. This study attempts to explain how education expansion affects income inequality by education distribution and the rate of return to education. We decompose the effect of education expansion on wage gaps into price effect and structure effect. We compare the income inequality from 2002 to 2013 using the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) 2002 and CHIP2013 survey data and employ Firpo, Fortin and Lemieux (2007) decomposition method. Our findings suggest that income inequality increased in 2013 and that income inequality among the high-income groups increased even more significantly. The structure effect of education expansion on income inequality is negative; in other words, education expansion decreases income inequality by allowing a wide range of individuals to attend college. However, this effect is offset by the price effect, which is positive and much more significant in magnitude. These results indicate that education expansion has increased income inequality in China.

About speaker: J uan YANG is a professor in Business School at Beijing Normal University(BNU). Prof. Yang  is also the Vice-director of Editorial Office for Education Economic Review, and the Director of Research Center for Academy Planning in BNU. She had worked in University of Western Ontario(Canada) as a post-doctor from 2013 to 2014. She graduated from Nankai University in China (B.A. in Finance with distinction, 1998-2002) and achieved her Ph.D in economics from University of York in the UK(2002-2007). Research Interests: Economics of Education, Educational Finance and Labor Economics. She has conducted “The research on intergenerational mobility in education” Project(No. :71203014, funded by Nature Science foundation of China, 2013,1—2015,12) and Project(No.: 12YJC790230, funded by the Ministry of education. 2012, 1—2013,12) etc. Main Journal Articles have been published on China Economic Review, Applied Economics, Economics of Transition, Frontiers of Economics in China and etc..

Date: April 18, 2018

Time: 12:30-13:45

Location: Room 608, Academic Hall, CUFE