升学竞争如何影响家庭支出——基于微观调查数据的新证据

How does the Competition for Educational AdvancementAffect Household Spending——New Evidence Based on Micro-Survey Data

从升学竞争带来的显性和隐性教育投资出发,实证检验中考普职分流对家庭支出的影响。研究发现:城市中考普职分流程度每增加1个标准差,家庭支出将增加约4%;以课外辅导和“学区房”购置为代表的显性教育投资是家庭支出增加的主要因素,而父母因教育竞争导致的劳动损失等隐性投入对家庭支出影响不显著;初中和小学阶段家庭分别通过增加辅导班支出和文化旅游支出来应对升学竞争;家庭主要通过增加超额消费和消耗家庭储蓄来弥补中考普职分流带来的额外支出。

Starting from the explicit and implicit educational investments brought about by the competition for educational advancement,the paper empirically examined the impact of vocational and academic tracking systems(commonly known as the“zhongkao”)on household spending.The study found that:for every standard deviation increased in the degree of vocational and academic tracking,household spending increased by approximately 4%.Concurrently,explicit education investment,represented by after-school tutoring and the purchase of“school district housing”,was the main factor contributing to increased household spending,while the loss of parental labor due to educational competition and other implicit investments had an insignificant impact on household spending.The results also revealed that,during the junior high and elementary school stages,households primarily coped with the pressure to advance academically by increasing spending on tutoring classes and cultural tourism,respectively.Further analysis showed that,families mainly offset the additional household expenditures caused by the vocational and academic tracking systems through increased overspending and depletion of family savings.