教育能直接给人带来幸福吗? 来自微观调查数据CFPS的证据

Can Education Bring about Happiness Directly?——Evidence from Micro Investigation Data of Chinese Family Panel Studies

教育是否使人幸福是教育学等相关学科备受关注的话题,但这一命题目前尚无统一认识。本文运用中国家庭动态跟踪调查数据(CFPS)对教育与幸福的关系进行了较为深入的探讨,并发现在消除教育与收入、地位等相关变量之间的依赖关系后,所显示的计量结果不能支持教育能直接给人幸福这一假设。消除依赖关系前后的检验结果显示了教育更可能通过提高受教育者的收入、地位等方面的回报而间接影响个体幸福,从而澄清了教育在功能上的"收入回报"而非"幸福回报",强有力地支持了教育可能仅仅充当影响个体幸福"工具"的观点。

The proposition whether education makes people happy still do not reach a consensus. In this study we employ the data from Chinese Family Panel Studies when exploring the relation between education and happiness. It is found that even after eliminating the dependency relationship between education and income, or education and social status,we stilll lack enough evidence to support the hypothesis that education brings about happiness directly. Though the results reveal that eduation is more likely to increase the educatees' income and social status,all affecting individual's happiness indirectly. This paper thereby clarifies euducational function related to income rewards instead of happiness reward and supports the idea that education serves as an instrument that affects individual's happiness indirectly.