减免义务教育费用会促进农村教育发展?——来自苏北农村家庭的证据

Will Derating Expense of Compulsory Education Change the Structure of Expenditure in Rural Family? Evidence from North of Jiangsu

利用苏北农村家庭数据,检验政府减免义务教育费用是否会因农民家庭可支配收入增加而促进农村教育发展。实证结果表明,减免义务教育费用政策可以显著增加农民家庭消费支出,但对农民家庭教育支出和生产支出没有显著影响。这可能意味着,在现有条件下,对农民家庭而言,家庭收入用于生产支出和教育支出的边际福利意义小于消费支出,农民家庭没有教育投资激励。农民家庭教育投资激励不足,可能是由于农村教育回报率过低所致,而农村教育回报率过低则是由一系列问题造成的。中国农村教育发展的当务之急是提高农村教育回报率,提高农民教育投资的积极性。

This paper evaluates how derating expense of compulsory education affect expenditure of education,production and consumption in rural families based on data from North families of Jiangsu. The results indicate that derating expense of compulsory education can increase expenditure of consumption significantly,but it cannot increase expenditure of education and production significantly. It is good for exploiting market of rural areas and enhancing demand inside the country to increase expenditure of consumption significantly. But it may mean low return to education and productive investment to increase expenditure of education and production insignificantly. It is bad for increasing the income of farmers in the long-run and exploiting market of rural areas and enhancing demand inside the country.