Human Capital, Economic Growth, and Inequality in China

James Heckman and Junjian Yi

No 6550, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: China's rapid growth was fueled by substantial physical capital investments applied to a large stock of medium skilled labor acquired before economic reforms began. As development proceeded, the demand for high skilled labor has grown, and, in the past decade, China has made substantial investments in producing it. The egalitarian access to medium skilled education characteristic of the pre-reform era has given rise to substantial inequality in access to higher levels of education. China's growth will be fostered by expanding access to all levels of education, reducing impediments to labor mobility, and expanding the private sector.

Keywords: economic growth; inequality; human capital; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J24 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

Published - published in: S. Fan, R. Kanbur, S. Wei, and X. Zhang (eds)., The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China on Human Capital, Oxford: OUP, 2014

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Working Paper: Human Capital, Economic Growth, and Inequality in China (2012)
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