A Discussion of the Expected Returns to Higher Education and the Marketization of Labor

Abstract

Under market economic conditions, the most important consultative factors for governments or the educated in making private investment decisions are the policy makers (whether government or individuals) in determining educational costs and the expected returns. Under circumstances where a greater share of responsibility for the cost of higher education in China is increasingly becoming the responsibility of individuals, educational policy makers and researchers, in their investigation of higher education policy, are paying increasing attention to the expected returns to higher education. Taking educated individuals or families as the investigative target, it is the anticipated returns that are one of the main determinants of their higher education needs. Another concerns whether the anticipated size of returns is affected by the willingness to pay fees in formulating the appropriate self-funded costs of higher education or whether a top-up policy should be considered.