Education Intergenerational Mobility In China:Trend And Reasons

Since the open reform,China saw an unprecedent economic growth for about four decades,and now become the second largest economy in the world.In the meantime,the income inequality also raised rapidly.If the increasing inequality is due to inequality of opportunity,and less social mobility,then it might affect the social stability and peaceful of the society.This essay mainly focusses on the evolution of the inequality of opportunity by studying the basic patterns of the intergenerational mobility and also the possible reasons during the 20th century in China.Firstly,employing the 2013 microlevel data set of China household Income Project(CHIP),I explored the main patterns of intergenerational educational mobility among the different periods,before the new China was established,the pre-Mao era of 1949 to 1966,and post-Mao era of 1966 to 1976,and the open reform era.I find that the intergenerational educational mobility coefficients are U-shaped.Before the establishment of the new China,the educational mobility coefficient is very high.After the establishment of the new China,the educational mobility decreased,especially during the Mao era.Since the open reform,the educational mobility coefficient increased again.Secondly,this essay examines the possible reasons of the variation of intergenerational educational mobility.I find that the educational system and social institutions are the main factors affect the intergenerational education mobility.When the new China established,there was a transition from the old society to the new society,the new system takes the old system instead.In the new system,educational equality is more emphasized,and more favorable to the low-income class,such as workers and peasants.However,during the cultural evolution in the post-Mao era,the intergenerational educational mobility coefficients increased slightly,however,the intergenerational educational mobility coefficients in rural China are significantly lower than that in urban China.The main reason is that during this period,because of'left ideology',education in urban China lagged behind,while the education in rural China improves rapidly.During the open reform,'left ideology' was removed,the education policies adjusted according to the situation of the reality,and the intergenerational educational mobility coefficient increases.While the urban mobility coefficient did not change much,the rural mobility coefficient surpasses that in the old society.The possible reason is that the new policies more focus on the reality,and that make the students from better family access to better education resources.Meanwhile,because of the imbalance of economic development in China,the regional economic disparity result in a lagged development of education in less developed areas.Finally,I propose some policy implications concerning the intergenerational educational mobility in China.