Abstract

Using a longitudinal survey data conducted from 1997 to 2011, this study employs an empirical study to provide evidence about the impact of the higher education expansion policy on the wage levels of college graduates in China. Major conclusions emerge. First, in general, the higher education expansion policy does not affect the wage level of young college graduates. Second, the difference of policy impact on wage by various wage percentiles is small. Third, the policy decreases the wage level of new college graduates in a short term and the negative effect disappears in a long term. Fourth, to consider the group heterogeneities of policy impacts, it is shown that both the differences between the Eastern, Central and Western Region groups and the gender gaps are small, whereas the policy impact differ by the urban and rural groups.

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