Returns to higher education in China What is the role of college quality回归中国高等教育：大学质量的作用.pdf

China Economic Review 22 (2011) 260–275 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect China Economic Review Returns to higher education in China: What is the role of college quality? Hai ZHONG ⁎ School of Public Finance and Public Policy, Central University of Finance and Economics, 39 South College Road, Beijing 100081, China a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: When there is substantial variation in the quality of colleges and universities, estimating Received 2 October 2010 returns to higher education based on quantity of education alone can be misleading. This paper Received in revised form 27 February 2011 examines the relationship between returns to higher education and college quality in China. Accepted 27 February 2011 We find that returns to higher education vary significantly depending on school quality. In Available online 7 March 2011 addition, we find that the relationship between earnings and school quality is stronger for cohorts of workers that have entered the workforce more recently. This finding may result from JEL classifi cation: the fact that as the transition toward a market system progresses in China, the wage system I2 becomes increasingly responsive to key components of human capital. We also find that the O12 earning gap between graduates from lower-quality colleges and those