农民工教育回报率估计中存在的偏误研究

Research on the Bias in Estimating Return to Education of Migrant Workers

文章构建了一个理论框架,指出劳动力市场的城乡分割和极高的流动成本使农民工在非农岗位及就业地点的选择方面主要考虑家庭效用最大化,而不是教育回报率估计中所假定的工资收入最大化,从而导致用传统的依赖有效劳动力市场假说的明瑟工资方程在估计农民工教育回报率时可能存在偏误;文章所构建的理论还指出,在有效劳动力市场难以成立的情况下,农民工教育回报率与城镇户籍劳动力教育回报率相比会出现一些完全不同的结构性差异,这些结构性差异因婚姻状况、年龄结构和迁移范围而异。文章基于中国家庭追踪调查数据的实证研究也得出了与理论分析一致的结论,该结论不仅能够更好地认识并合理估计农民工的教育回报率,也为劳动力市场的城乡分割和极高的劳动力流动成本阻碍了劳动力资源的优化配置提供了证据。

The paper proposes a theoretical framework on migrant workers'choice of jobs and places of employment.It argues that because of urban-rural segmentation in the labor market and extremely high mobility costs,migrant workers'choice-making is driven mainly by household utility maximization,rather than by salary maximization.As a result,there may be biases in estimating the educational return for migrant workers using the traditional Mincer wage equation,which relies on the efficient labor market assumption.The paper also points out that in case that effective labor market doesn't exist,structural differences may arise in the educational return for migrant workers and urban workers.The institutional difference varies by migrants'marital status,age and migration distance.The empirical findings support the theoretical propositions in this study.Our research is helpful to better understand and to estimate the educational return for migrant workers precisely.It also provides evidence that the labor market segmentation and high cost of labor mobility hinder an optimized allocation of labor resources.