Title: College Expansion and Educational Attainment: A Study in China

Speaker: Shunan Wu

Abstract:Standard human capital models without uncertainty rarely address the importance of the option value of education. The option value of a certain level of education lies in the opportunity it provides to obtain a higher level of education. Therefore, changes in option values can affect human capital investment decisions. This paper sheds light on this issue by studying the impact of China’s college enrollment expansion on educational attainment at the high school level. Combining survey data with provincial statistics and applying a difference-in-differences method, I find that college expansion has significantly increased the probabilities of enrolling in and completing high school. The probability of completing high school increased more than that of enrolling in high school. Female students benefited more, as did children whose mother had a high school degree.

AboutShunan Wu : She is an Assistant Professor in the School ofChina Economics and Management Academy at CUFE.She completed her Ph.D. in Economics at Boston University. Her research focuses onDevelopment Economics, Labor

Economics and Applied Microeconomics.

Date: April,21,2016

Time:15:40-17:00 PM

Location:Room 608, Academic Hall, CUFE