Vocational education investment and middle-income group expansion in China
Qi Chen and
Xinghai Li
Finance Research Letters, 2025, vol. 76, issue C
Abstract:
This study examines the relationship between vocational education investment and middle-income group expansion in China through the lens of industrial structure transformation. Using panel data from 25 Chinese provinces across six periods, we employ standard regression and threshold effect models to analyze this complex relationship. Findings reveal that vocational education, particularly at the secondary level, significantly contributes to middle-income group expansion. This study proposes a novel dual-threshold paradigm to show that the efficacy of vocational education investment exhibits linear and nonlinear relationships with industrial structure growth. In particular, we determine a positive correlation with non-agricultural sector growth and an inverted U-shaped relationship with industrial structure optimization. These nuanced findings have important implications for educational investment plans in emerging economies undergoing industrial transformations.
Keywords: Vocational education investment; Middle-income group; Industrial structure; Threshold effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325002892
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:76:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325002892
DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107025
Access Statistics for this article
Finance Research Letters is currently edited by R. Gençay
More articles in Finance Research Letters from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().