Can Educational Expansion Improve Income Inequality in China? Evidences from the CHNS 1997 and 2006 Data

Rapid education expansion and rising income inequality are two striking phenomena occurring in China during the transitional period. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data collected in 1997 and 2006, this paper studies how education affects individual earnings during the transitional process. We find that education accounts for only a small fraction of personal earnings and income gap between different groups. We analyze the underlying mechanism of the impact of education on earnings. More educated people tend to enter state-owned sectors, have a low probability of changing jobs in the labor market and work less time; all of these will have a pronounced impact on earning and income inequality. Quantile regression analysis shows that the low-income group's education return rate is lower, which helps little in narrowing income gap. We decompose the earning gap into four factors: population effect, price effect, labor choice effect and unobservable effect. In explaining the earning gap in China, the price effect is more important than the population effect. The labor choice effect is also significant. We conclude that increasing educational expenditure with no complementary measures such as reforming the education system and establishing a competitive labor market helps less in reducing income inequality.rate of return to education, income gap, education expansion, labor market

Self-Employment of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China

This paper focuses on the determinants of self-employment among rural to urban migrants in China. Two self-selection mechanisms are analysed: the first relates to the manner in which migrants choose self-employment or paid work based on the potential gains from either type of employment; the second takes into account that the determinants of the migration decision can be correlated with employment choices. Using data from the 2008 Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia (RUMiCI) survey, a selection model with endogenous switching is estimated. Earnings estimates are then used to derive the wage differential, which in turn is used to model the employment choice. The procedure is extended to account for migration selectivity and to compare individuals with different migration background and employment histories. The results indicate that self-employed individuals are positively selected with respect to their unobserved characteristics. Furthermore, the wage differential is found to be an important driver of the self-employment choice.self-employment, rural to urban migration, selection bias magnets, wages, European Union

More income, less depression? Revisiting the nonlinear and heterogeneous relationship between income and mental health

This paper uses a large-scale nationally representative dataset to examine the nonlinear effect of income on mental health. To investigate their causal relationship, the exogenous impact of automation on income is utilized as the instrument variable (IV). In addition, to explore their nonlinear relationship, both income and its quadratic term are included in regressions. It is found that the impact of income on mental health is U-shaped rather than linear. The turning point (7.698) of this nonlinear relation is near the midpoint of the income interval ([0, 16.113]). This suggests that depression declines as income increases at the lower-income level. However, beyond middle income, further increases in income take pronounced mental health costs, leading to a positive relationship between the two factors. We further exclude the possibility of more complex nonlinear relationships by testing higher order terms of income. In addition, robustness checks, using other instrument variables and mental health indicators, different IV models and placebo analysis, all support above conclusions. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that males, older workers, ethnic minorities and those with lower health and socioeconomic status experience higher levels of depression. Highly educated and urban residents suffer from greater mental disorders after the turning point. Religious believers and Communist Party of China members are mentally healthier at lower income levels, meaning that religious and political beliefs moderate the relationship between income and mental health

A Tough Metal‐Coordinated Elastomer: A Fatigue‐Resistant, Notch‐Insensitive Material with an Excellent Self‐Healing Capacity

Self-healing materials can prolong device life, but their relatively weak mechanical strength limits their applications. Introducing tunable metal-ligand interactions into self-healing systems can improve their mechanical strength. However, applying this concept to solid elastomers is a challenge. To address this need, polyurethane-containing metal complexes were fabricated by introduction of a pyridine-containing ligand into polyurethane, and subsequent coordination with Fe2+. The strong reversible coordination bond provides mechanical strength and self-healing ability. By optimizing the monomer ratio and Fe2+ content, the resulting complex possesses a very high tensile strength of 4.6MPa at strain of around 498% and a high Young's modulus (3.2MPa). Importantly, the metal complex exhibits an extremely high self-healing efficiency of approximately 96% of tensile strength at room temperature and around 30% at 5 degrees C. The complex is notch-insensitive and the fracture energy is 76186J/m(2), which is among the highest reported values for self-healing systems

Can educational expansion improve income inequality? Evidences from the CHNS 1997 and 2006 data

Rapid education expansion and rising income inequality are two striking phenomena occurring in China during the transitional period. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data collected in 1997 and 2006, this paper studies how education affects individual earnings during the transitional process. We find that education accounts for only a small fraction of the personal earnings and income gap between different groups. We analyze the underlying mechanism of the impact of education on earning. More educated people tend to enter state-owned sectors, have a low probability of changing jobs in the labor market and work less time; all of these will have a pronounced impact on earning and income inequality. Quantile regression analysis shows that the low-income group's education return rate is lower, which helps little in narrowing the income gap. We decompose the earning gap into four factors: population effect, price effect, labor choice effect and unobservable effect. In explaining the earning gap in China, the price effect is more important than the population effect. The labor choice effect is also significant. We conclude that increasing educational expenditure with no complementary measures such as reforming the education system and establishing a competitive labor market helps less in reducing income inequality.Education expansion Income gap Rate of return to education Labor market

Dynamic Divide Grouping Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in Terrestrial-Satellite Integrated Network

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been extensively studied to improve the performance of the Terrestrial-Satellite Integrated Network (TSIN) on account of the shortage of frequency band resources. In this paper, the terrestrial network and satellite network synergistically provide complete coverage for ground users, and based on the architecture, we first formulate a constrained optimization problem to maximize the sum rate of the TSIN under the limited spectrum resources. As the terrestrial networks and the satellite network will cause interference to each other, we first investigate the capacity performance of the terrestrial networks and the satellite networks separately, in which the optimal power control factor expression is derived. Then, by constructing the relationship model between user elevation angle, beam angle and distance, we develop a dynamic group pairing schemes to ensure the effective pairing of NOMA users. Based on the user pairing, to obtain the optimal resource allocation, a joint optimization algorithm of power allocation, beam channel and base station channel resource is proposed. Finally, simulation results are provided to evaluate the user paring scheme as well as the total system performance, in comparison with the existing works

Does the Internet Bring People Closer Together or Further Apart? The Impact of Internet Usage on Interpersonal Communications

The complementarity interference (CI) model suggests that the Internet may either inhibit or facilitate interpersonal communications. This paper empirically examines the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal interactions, using a micro dataset from China to answer whether the Internet brings people closer together or further apart. The empirical results demonstrate, first, that Internet usage significantly increases both the time and frequency of people’s communications with their family and friends, rather than causing them to feel more disconnected and isolated. Holding other factors constant, for each one-standard-deviation increase in Internet usage, weekly communications with family members increases by an average of 102.150 min, while there is an average increase of 54.838 min in interactions with friends. These findings as to its positive effects are robust when using other regression models and interpersonal contact measures, as well as the instrumental variable method. Second, Internet usage also contributes to decreased loneliness; it exerts this effect primarily by improving people’s interactions with their family members. However, communications with friends do not significantly mediate such impacts. Third, the positive role of Internet usage on communications is more prominent for people with more frequent online socialization and self-presentation, better online skills, younger age, higher educational level, and who are living in urban areas. In addition, the beneficial effects of Internet usage are larger for communications with family members in the case of migrants. Therefore, in the context of the rapid development of information technology, the network infrastructure should be improved to make better use of the Internet to facilitate interpersonal communications and promote people’s wellness