信息资本与家庭教育选择:来自中国的证据

Information Capital and Household Education Choice:Evidence from China

提升家庭层面的人力资本投资是解决我国人力资本投资不足、拉动居民消费的关键环节之一。本研究集中讨论了以互联网为代表的信息资本对家庭教育选择与投资的影响。利用“中国家庭追踪调查”2014年和2016年追踪数据,本文建立配套亲子样本,应用泛精确匹配和加权回归方法,探究了信息资本是否有助于家庭突破信息约束以参与教育选择和教育投资。研究结果表明,使用互联网的家庭更有可能参与择校、选择进入重点校,且参与校外补习的概率与参与程度也显著提升。互联网使用带动了家庭教育投资的提高,尤其是选择性投资与校外补习投资。这种积极效果随着互联网的普及逐步衰退。此外,信息资本对家庭教育选择的积极影响受到制度约束,面临升学瓶颈的流动儿童并未从家庭互联网使用中获益。

Increasing household education expenditure is critical for improving human capital investment and expanding household consumption in China.This study analyzes how information capital embedded in internet usage influences household’s education choice and investment.Based on 2014 and 2016 wave of China Family Panel Survey data,this paper constructs a parent-child matched sample and uses the Coarsened Exact Match method to estimate the causal effect of using internet on human capital investment,and evaluate how inter-household variation in access to internet influences education investment gap.This study shows that mother’s internet use significantly increases the likelihood of a household’s participating in education choice in terms of school choice,school quality choice,and after-school tutoring.Information capital also induces families to spend more money on non-mandatory education expenditure and private tutoring.However,such positive effect disappears as the access to internet expands over time.Moreover,migrant children are less likely to benefit from this kind of digital dividend.