资本积累、城乡收入差距与农村居民教育投资

Capital Accumulation, Rural-urban Income Inequality and Education Investment of Rural Residents

文章利用1978~2017年省级面板数据,研究收入分化情境下中国农村居民教育投资的激励形成机制。研究结果表明:(1)人均资本存量的提高明显促进了农村居民教育投资的增长,原因在于“资本—技能互补”关系降低了在当期接受教育的相对成本。(2)收入差距的扩大会弱化资本积累对农村居民教育投资的激励效应,当城乡收入比超过2.05的临界值(以1978年不变价格计)后,这一激励效应会逐渐消失。分地区来看,东部省份城乡收入差距的临界值为1.97,中西部省份则不存在临界值。(3)资本积累对农村居民教育投资的影响总体正向,同时存在阶段性波动。“六五计划”(1981~1985年)和“十五计划”(2001~2005年)期间资本积累的激励效应达到两个峰值,近年有所下降。文章再次证明过大的收入差距对农村人力资本积累的消极影响,政府需要注重社会财富的二次分配与教育资源的城乡统筹。

This paper uses the provincial panel data of China from 1978 to 2017 to analyze the incentive mechanism for private investment of rural residents in the context of income polarization.It finds that:(1)the increase of capital stock per capita can significantly promote the growth of rural residents’investment in education because the capital-skill complementarity reduces the relative costs of current education.(2)The expansion of the income gap would weaken the incentive effect of capital on rural residents private education investment.When the ratio of urban to rural income exceeds the critical value of 2.05(based on the constant price in 1978),this incentive effect will gradually disappear.The threshold in the eastern provinces is 1.97,and there is no threshold in the central and western provinces.(3)The impact of capital accumulation on rural residents’education investment is generally positive,but there are period fluctuations.The incentive effect of capital during the“Sixth Five-Year Plan”(1981-1985)and the“Tenth Five-Year Plan”(2001-2005)reached two peaks,and then declined in the years followed.This paper demonstrates once again negative impacts of excessive income gap on rural human capital accumulation.Government should focus on the appropriate distribution of social wealth and educational resources between urban and rural areas.