信息干预对高考志愿专业选择的影响——来自大规模随机实验的证据

The Impact of Informational Interventions on College-Major Choice——Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Experiment

人力资本理论认为预期收益会影响教育选择。本文基于宁夏高考行政数据和调查数据,考察弱势家庭背景学生高考专业选择意愿、行为及结果。控制其他条件不变,农村学生更可能填报和被录取到经济回报较低的专业。以"各专业大类对应本科毕业生起薪"为主要内容的信息干预,改变了弱势学生的专业选择意愿和行为;在平均意义上提高了考生被录取到经济回报较高专业的概率。本文表明,信息干预通过缩小信息鸿沟,一定程度上促进了教育公平。

Human Capital Theory indicates that the expected return to education affects educational choice.Using large-scale administrative data and survey data from Ningxia,this research examines college-major preference,choice,and admission outcomes of disadvantaged students in China.With all else equal,rural students are more likely to apply to and enroll in college-majors with lower expected returns.In a randomized experiment,we provided treated students with information about discipline-specific starting wages and found that the informational intervention substantially changed the major preference and choice of disadvantaged students.The intervention resulted in more students being admitted to majors with higher average starting wages on average.These results imply that informational interventions can improve education equity through narrowing the informational gap between student groups.