Expansion and Intergenerational Mobility of Education

Using data from the 2013 Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP2013), we analyze intergenerational educational mobility and the distribution of benefits among different groups in the course of educational expansion. Overall, educational expansion has raised educational mobility, reduced the possibility of downward intergenerational educational mobility, and increased the possibility of upward intergenerational mobility. However, the degree to which different types of households have benefited from the expansion of education is closely related to the urban-rural gap and the level of parental education. The expansion of basic education has been more advantageous to the children of less-educated parents, whereas the expansion of higher education has mainly benefited the children of households with higher levels of parental education and to urban children. If, therefore, China is to promote the balanced development of educational modernization and build a nation that is an educational power, it needs to make active adjustments at the policy level.