Education and Regional Economic Development in China: The Case of Shanghai

In thirty years, Shanghai's economy has shifted dramatically from agriculture to industry and, more recently, services. With less than 10 percent of the workforce in agriculture in 1990, a limit is rapidly approaching for a continuation to this historical pattern. Government policy has been supportive of rapid modernization and economic growth, but despite a high level of educational investment in the past, we find evidence of underinvestment at present. We show how underinvestment in education, the shift to a market economy, and the constraint of housing that is not yet privatized are strongly interrelated.