Analysis On The Heterogeneity Of Factors Influencing The Education Consumption Of Chinese Urban Households

Since the higher education reform which centers on enrollment expansion and tuition fee system, the education consumption of the inhabitant has witnessed a rapid growth. In1998, the percentage of education consumption in total consumption has bigger than that of clothing consumption in the first time and ranks number two in nine consecutive years. However, the consumption level of education in China is still relatively low, far behind other countries. Moreover, The education consumption behavior of different consumer groups has diverged due to the different regional economy, the expansion of income gaps and different consumption habits.This paper will explore the factors influencing the education consumption of urban households in China and the heterogeneity of these factors on families of different regions and types from the macro and micro perspectives in order to find out the distinctive features of education consumption behaviors.Firstly, the dissertation adopts regression model to analyze the main factors influencing the education consumption of urban households based on the macro data from1993to2009. Secondly, in order to examine the heterogeneity of these factors on different regions, using macro data from2002to2009, the paper adopts panel data model to estimate the education consumption functions of the eastern, the middle and the western respectively. Lastly, with the purpose of finding out the features of education consumption of urban households in a micro way, on the basis of CHNS data in2006, the paper adopts multi-level model to make analysis of main influencing factors.The empirical results shows that the education consumption of unban households in China is mainly affected by income, income uncertainty, the price of education and the price of medical care, transportation and communication. Substitution effect exists between the price of education and that of medical care while there is some crowding effect between the education consumption and transportation consumption.There exists big difference between influencing factors and mechanism between different regions. The education consumption of the eastern inhabitants is mainly affected by the combination of income, income uncertainty,, the price of education and the price of medical care, transportation and communication. The education consumption of the center inhabitants is mainly influenced by disposable income while the western is affected by income and income uncertain.The paper also finds that factors from the level of regions and families all affect the education consumption of urban households. The more developed as economy is, the higher level of education expenditure. Moreover, The education fund of regional fiscal input will crowd out some education investment of the children and the education year the householder receive will make positive effect on household education consumption. In addition, the mechanism of the influencing factors differ greatly among different income and different education status of the family. Those families with low income and compulsory education period are affected by regional factors as well as family factors while those families with high income and non-compulsory education period are only influenced by family factors. Lastly, the propensity to consume of low income families is bigger than that of high income ones and the propensity to consume in the period of compulsory education is bigger than that of non-compulsory education.