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Credential Effects and the Returns to Education in C hina
Author(s) -
Xiu Lin,
Gunderson Morley
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
labour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1467-9914
pISSN - 1121-7081
DOI - 10.1111/labr.12009
Subject(s) - credential , discretion , labour economics , economics , value (mathematics) , demographic economics , computer security , political science , machine learning , computer science , law
Using the C hina H ousehold I ncome P roject ( CHIP ) data for 1995 and 2002, we examine the returns to education in C hina, separating out credential effects from pure years‐of‐schooling effects. The results are broadly consistent with the implications of C hina moving towards a market‐oriented economy: increasing returns to education where both years of schooling and credentials from completing key phases are rewarded; a decline in the importance of credentials as firms have more discretion to select the best‐suited employees irrespective of their credentials; more emphasis on credentials in the state sector; less emphasis on credentials for long‐tenured employees for whom the employer has more opportunity to assess productivity without relying on credentials; and a greater importance of credentials for females for whom the value of such signals may be more important.