The Impact Of Education On Intergenerational Income Mobility In China

Since the reform and opening up,China’s economy has made great progress,and people’s living standards have also improved significantly.However,while China’s comprehensive national power has greatly improved,it is also important to recognize soberly that despite the remarkable achievements in economic development over the past 40 years or so,with GDP per capita exceeding $10,000 in 2019 alone,there are still outstanding problems of unbalanced and insufficient development that need to be further addressed.The Gini coefficient has crossed the international alert line of 0.4since 2000 and is at a level of about 0.47 from 2013 to now,and the pattern of large income distribution gap has still not fundamentally changed.Income inequality and the widening gap between rich and poor residents have led to the current decreasing social mobility,which has become a real problem affecting the high-quality development of China’s economy.By deeply exploring intergenerational income mobility,the fairness of income distribution can be better assessed,so as to solve the current income gap problem and promote the realization of social equity.In addition,education equity is also a key factor in achieving social equity;therefore,studying how education affects residents’ intergenerational income mobility will help improve China’s intergenerational income mobility and thus promote the development of society.Starting from the perspective of education,this paper firstly composes and summarizes the research results on intergenerational income mobility at home and abroad,and then selects five rounds of CFPS micro-survey data from 2012 to 2020,and combines intergenerational income transition matrix,intergenerational income elasticity estimation model,mediating effect,and quantile regression to comprehensively analyze the impact of education on intergenerational income mobility of Chinese residents.The conclusions obtained show that,first,the overall intergenerational income elasticity coefficient of Chinese residents is 0.205,and the income of offspring depends on the income of their fathers to a certain extent,but there are large differences in intergenerational income mobility between urban and rural areas and different regions.The value of intergenerational income elasticity in rural areas is lower than that in urban areas,and the solidification phenomenon is more serious in urban classes.Intergenerational income mobility between regions shows an increasing trend from east to west,with the highest intergenerational income mobility in western regions.Second,the results of the intergenerational income transition matrix show that under different income classes,the intergenerational income mobility of middle-income groups is larger while the solidification of income classes at both ends is serious,leading to the existence of an obvious wealth gap in China.Third,the overall intergenerational income mobility in China is significantly higher after adding the education factor,and the measured net effect of education on intergenerational income mobility is 0.072,with education accounting for a higher proportion of the total degree of influence of the parent’s income on the offspring’s income.Further quantile regressions show that education has the most significant contribution to the middle income group,the degree of impact of education on females is smaller than that of males,and a certain degree of educational inequity exists between all regions.Based on the above research,this paper proposes corresponding countermeasures.Education is an important factor affecting intergenerational income transmission,and the state should pay more attention to education equity,improve income distribution and social security systems,and enhance income equity and equal opportunities.Investment in education at different income levels should be increased to achieve a balanced income distribution among residents.For rural areas and regions with backward economic development,financial investment,especially in public education resources,should be strengthened to promote the dynamic balance of high-quality education resources,thus improving the level of intergenerational income mobility in the whole society.