Study On The Income Effect Of Laborers' Cognitive And Non-cognitive Abilities From The Perspective Of Human Capital Theory

The influence of human capital on labor income has always been one of the important research contents in the field of labor economics.Under the framework of the traditional human capital theory,education is regarded as the synonym of the worker's ability and is widely used in the practical research.However,more and more empirical evidence shows that the traditional income estimation based on education can lead to the omission of ability.The theory of signal transmission and the theory of educational filter also challenge the claim that education can represent the ability of workers.With the development of modern psychological science,it is possible to measure people's abilities.On the one hand,scholars have studied the income effect of workers' cognitive abilities such as IQ,memory and mathematical operation ability.On the other hand,the author began to study the income effect of workers' initiative,innovation,self-esteem and other non-cognitive abilities.A wealth of research shows that cognitive and non-cognitive abilities can have a significant impact on the economic and social performance of workers,and the "new" human capital theory with cognitive and non-cognitive abilities as the core has become an important research topic in the academia.Domestic studies on the effects of cognitive and non-cognitive income on workers are in their infancy,and there are still many gaps in relevant studies.In this context,this paper,from the perspective of human capital theory,conducts an empirical study on the income effect of workers' cognitive and non-cognitive abilities after controlling traditional human capital factors such as education and health,and deeply analyzes the employment screening mechanism and education selection mechanism of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities that affect workers' income.The research of this paper can not only provide reference for the development of human capital theory,but also have important reference significance for the raising workers' income,education system reform and human capital investment decision of enterprises and individuals.The thesis consists of seven chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,which mainly introduces the background,research significance and purpose of the thesis,and expounds the research ideas,research methods and innovative points of the thesis.Other chapters are arranged and studied as follows:Chapter two: Definition of relevant concepts and literature review at home and abroad.Firstly,the core concepts of cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability are defined and explained.Secondly,the academic history of the three stages of the formation of human capital theory is investigated,and the relevant theories of the formation of capacity are introduced.Finally,the literature review on the income effect of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities is made.Chapter three: Measure of cognitive and noncognitive abilities and the mechanism of ability affects income.The word test and mathematics test scores in the questionnaire were used as the cognitive ability indicators,and the psychological test in the questionnaire was used to construct the non-cognitive ability indicators of the "big five personalities".Based on the existing research results,this paper analyzes and discusses the direct mechanism(labor productivity)and indirect mechanism(employment screening and education selection)of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities affecting workers' income.Chapter four: The direct income effect of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities.By analyzing and referring to the income model of traditional human capital,this paper constructs a general theoretical model of the influence of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities on the income of workers.The direct income effects of workers' cognitive and non-cognitive abilities were empirically studied using data from the 2016 and 2018 Chinese household tracking survey(CFPS).Study found that in the control of the traditional human capital factors such as education,health,cognitive ability of mathematical operation ability and the non-cognitive abilities of emotional stability,openness and conscientious performance enough to have obvious promoting effects on workers' income.The influence of non-cognitive ability on workers' income is higher than that of cognitive ability the influence of the cognitive and non-cognitive ability for workers income reached almost half of the traditional education factors.The effects of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities on the income of workers in different gender,industry,education background and income level groups are obviously heterogeneous.In this paper,the endogeneity problem of the model is controlled by the instrumental variable(IV)method,and the selective bias problem of the sample is solved by the propensity matching score(PSM)method.Chapter five: Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities,employment screening and labor income.Using 2018 CFPS data,the Probit model was used to conduct an empirical study on the employment screening mechanism of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities affecting the income of workers.The research shows that cognitive and non-cognitive abilities can significantly affect the employment choice of workers,and thus affect their income level.Workers with higher cognitive and non-cognitive abilities are more likely to enter high-income industries,but there are also some industries where there is a mismatch between ability and income,such as education and medical care.The ability to memorize words and words in cognitive ability and the emotional stability and congruence in non-cognitive ability can help workers enter the white-collar industry.Chapter six: Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities,educational choices and labor income.Using the CFPS data of 2018,this paper conducts an empirical study on the educational selection mechanism of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities influencing the income of workers by using the mediating effect model.The research shows that education does play a mediating role in the effect of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities on the income of workers,and the higher the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities are,the higher the educational attainment of workers will be.Since childhood is able to form a key period of laborer,using 2013-2015 China education track baseline data(CEPS),Probit model and PSM method is used to study the preschool education influence on children's cognitive and non-cognitive ability,the results show that the pre-school education and family background for the formation of children's cognitive and non-cognitive ability plays an important role.Parents' economic conditions and educational qualifications are likely to influence the formation of children's abilities,thus resulting in the intergenerational transmission of education and income levels.Chapter seven: Main conclusions and policy implications.Based on the above theoretical analysis and empirical research results,this paper puts forward relevant policy inspirations on three issues of social concern,such as raising workers' income,educational system reform,enterprise organizational incentive and individual and children's development,and further prospects for this study.