Inequity in Intergenerational Mobility in Transitional China and Its Dynamics: The Effects of Schooling

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between schooling and intergenerational mobility was examined by applying regression analysis and path analysis models to the CHNS dataset. It was found that schooling has only small effects on status and economic equality. It was found that stronger, intermediate effects resulted from parents’ transforming advantages attached to their economic, educational and household registration status into advantages for their children. These trends, now growing stronger in transitional China, have resulted from increasing returns to education and increasingly unequal access to education. In order to prevent schooling from contributing to the solidification of economic inequality, equity in access to education must be pursued.