 The poverty trap of education: Education–poverty connections in Western ChinaHuafeng Zhang International Journal of Educational Development, 2014, vol. 38, issue C, 47-58 Abstract: Traditional studies of development and education focus either on the benefits of education for lifting the poor out of poverty, or on the vicious circle created when poor cannot afford education. This paper adds to the traditional view by also focusing on the poverty trap that is created for families that invest heavily in education without obtaining returns. It offers another perspective on the new education–poverty trap, with the burden of educational costs as cause of poverty and deprivation for low- and middle-income families. Data from a large-scale survey of the Western regions of China shows that the cost of higher education is far beyond low- and middle-income families’ affordability. Chinese households face a dilemma: borrowing money to educate a child or avoiding debt but foregoing education and mobility. While already acknowledged as a major social problem in China, the new poverty–education connection has so far received relatively little scholarly attention. Keywords: Educational cost; Poverty trap; Educational investment decision; Poverty–education connection (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:injoed:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:47-58 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.05.003 Access Statistics for this article International Journal of Educational Development is currently edited by Stephen P Heyneman More articles in International Journal of Educational Development from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.