経済研究所
【経済研】『ディスカッションペーパー』No.428 （李鋒研究員『The Effect of Relaxing the Hukou System on Education : Evidence from China』）を発行しました
2026年7月22日に発行された『ディスカッションペーパー』No.428を学術リポジトリで全文公開いたしました。
論文名：The Effect of Relaxing the Hukou System on Education : Evidence from China
執筆者：李 鋒 研究員（中央大学経済学部）
キーワード：China、Hukou-Reform、Educational Attainment、Human Capital Accumulation、Institutional
Reform、Difference-in-Differences
要 旨：
Does inequality in educational opportunities emerge as a result of limited educational resources or institutional barriers preventing individuals from accessing available public services? This paper aims to address the questions using China’s hukou reform in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate whether easing residency constraints can improve educational attainment. Using nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) along with the difference-in-differences framework, causal effects of the hukou reform on years of schooling are found. Findings demonstrate that hukou system reforms had a substantial impact on increasing education attainment, particularly in cities that witnessed greater policy liberalization. These results remained robustness under different identification strategies, such as event-study analysis, placebo tests, and propensity score matching in conjunction with difference-in-differences framework. Mechanism analyses also highlighted that the reform raised educational attainment through greater use of internet in households, engagement of households in business activities, and reduction in school sponsorship fees, implying that increased access to information, economic opportunities, and reduction in institutional barriers have positively affected outcomes. Furthermore, the education benefits accrue mainly to young people whose education was still incomplete when the reform was introduced. It is also found that educational inequality is shaped by disparities in distribution of educational opportunities and the access to public services through institutions. In general, the paper shows that reforming institutions can lead to higher human capital accumulation through increased educational attainment without the need for proportionate rise in educational investments and contributing towards inclusive development in developing economies.
