TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Dai, Li
AU  - Martins, Pedro S.
        TI  - Does Vocational Education Pay off  in China? Evidence from City-Level Education Supply Shocks
        PY  - 2024/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16957
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16957
        AB  - China hosts the world's largest secondary education sector: more than 14 million adolescents enrol in secondary academic or vocational schools every year. Despite the large literature on returns to education, little evidence exists as to how these two streams compare in the country. Using 2013 China Household Income Project data, we estimate the returns to secondary vocational education both at the mean and along the conditional wage distribution. We use instrumental variables based on the considerable variation in education provision across cities and years (and a 1995 policy reform). We find that vocational education generates a large wage premium (up to 54%), especially for those of lower earnings potential. Our findings indicate that vocational education can be a good option for those who do not wish to enter tertiary education, especially the less well-off.
        KW  - heterogeneity
KW  - vocational education
KW  - returns to education
KW  - instrumental variable quantile regression
KW  - China
        ER  -