Geography and educational inequality in China

doi:10.1016/j.chieco.2006.04.003

China Economic Review

Volume 17, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 253-265

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2006.04.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Since the 1980s, educational reforms in China have decentralized administration and finance and privatized costs. These changes have emerged in the context of rapid economic growth and rising regional economic disparities. The reforms have mobilized new resources in support of education, but they have also exacerbated regional disparities in funding for schools. Analyses of trends in school finance and expenditures have emerged, but detailed studies of the shifting ties between geography and educational outcomes in the population have not.

Using 2000 census data on year and location of birth and educational attainment, we begin to address this gap. We compare the links between birth province and educational outcomes across 5-year birth cohorts to illuminate trends in region-based inequalities. Results show that the percent of variation in years of schooling explained by birth province declined for cohorts born through the early 1960s, and then increased thereafter.

Additional analyses use a dissimilarity index to characterize the strength of the link between geography and access to each level of schooling. This index indicates that the link between geography and access to primary school has greatly increased across cohorts, as the few without access to primary school are ever more concentrated in poor areas. The link between birth province and access to subsequent levels of schooling shows mixed trends through cohorts born in the early 1960s: stability for junior high school and a weakening trend for senior high school and college. Thereafter, the dissimilarity index increased, substantially for junior high school and slightly for senior high school and college.

Results attest to the enduring significance of geography as an educational stratifier in China. More broadly, results suggest the importance of regional inequalities in conditioning the relationship between development and educational stratification.

Introduction

Since the 1980s, education reforms in China have decentralized administration and finance and privatized costs. These changes have emerged in the context of rapid economic growth and rising regional economic disparities. The reforms have mobilized new resources in support of education, but have also exacerbated regional disparities in funding for schools. While analyses of trends in school finance and expenditures have emerged, there are no detailed studies of the shifting ties between geography and educational outcomes in the population.

Using micro-data from the 2000 census, we begin to address this gap by analyzing data on year and location of birth and educational attainment. We compare the link between birth province and educational outcomes across birth cohorts educated in different periods to illuminate trends in region-based inequalities.

The paper proceeds as follows: We first place our research in a broader context of research on development and educational stratification, and develop three specific research questions. We then discuss the significance of these questions in the China context. We provide a description of data and methods, and then proceed to a presentation of results. We close with a brief discussion of the implications of our findings for research on educational stratification, in China and in other settings.

Section snippets

Framework

A key question in the field of social stratification and mobility is whether the educational impact of ascribed characteristics, particularly social origins, gender and ethnicity, changes as a society develops. The often-cited “industrialization hypothesis” suggests that the impact of ascription should wither away with development and educational expansion, as meritocratic status attainment processes are thought to be the most efficient means to a well-functioning economy (Treiman, 1970).

The

China context

China offers an informative setting in which to examine these questions. First, China offers a useful test case for the industrialization hypothesis because of its rapid and relatively recent improvements in quality of life indicators and educational opportunities. For example, estimates for women in a sample of seven provinces in the China Health and Nutrition Survey indicate that years of schooling rose from about 2 years for women age 15 in 1951 to over 8 years for those age 15 in 1978. While

Data and methods

To investigate these questions, we analyze unit-record data from a 0.95 per thousand microsample from the 2000 China population census. We conduct all analyses separately for 5-year birth cohorts and compare results across cohorts to infer changes over time.

As outcome measures, we consider both a summary measure of years of schooling and levels of attainment, including primary, lower and upper secondary, and tertiary education. In both analyses, we focus on the impact of province of birth,

Years of schooling

We consider first a summary measure of approximate years of schooling. Fig. 2 plots R² values from models of years of schooling estimated for each 5-year birth cohort. The model specification is the same for all cohorts: a set of dummy variables for province of birth. Fig. 2 thus depicts changes across cohorts in the variation in years of schooling explained by province of birth.

Fig. 2 shows a trend of declining variation explained by birth province from the 1946 to 1950 cohort (R² = 8.17%)

Discussion and conclusions

This paper has considered the role of geographic origins in conditioning educational attainment in China. First, results highlight the historical and continuing link between province of birth and educational chances. The importance of geographic origins has not been fully considered in the stratification and mobility research in China due to data limitations; these analyses suggest that geography is a sufficiently important stratifier to warrant further scrutiny. Further, given that regional

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Geography and educational inequality in China

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Framework

China context

Data and methods

Years of schooling

Discussion and conclusions

China Economic Review

World Development

China Economic Review

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Annual Review of Sociology

The urban–rural income gap in China: Implications for the global food market

American Journal of Agricultural Economics

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Economics of Education Review

Origins and destinations: Family, class, and education in modern Britain

Political change and the urban–rural gap in education in China, 1949–1990

Comparative Education Review

Income inequality in China: Composition, distribution and growth of household income, 1988 to 1995

The China Quarterly

Women's education in developing countries: Barriers, benefits, and policies

Post-Cairo population policy: Does promoting girls' schooling miss the mark?

Population and Development Review

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American Sociological Review