The effect of intergenerational mobility on family education investment: evidence from China

The discussion of inequality has been an enduring topic in sociology and economics. With the intensification of inequality, research on how inequality affects families' education investment behavior remains scarce. This study analyzes the effect of opportunity inequality—measured via intergenerational mobility (IGM)—on family education investment (FEI). Using the 2015 Chinese population sample survey and the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the paper measures regional intergenerational mobility via intergenerational educational rank correlation and uses extracurricular tutoring expenses as FEI. Benchmark regressions show that higher IGM significantly reduces FEI: a 0.1-unit increase in IGM reduces average FEI by 25.75%. This negative effect remains significant after robustness tests, including variable replacements, controlling omitted variables, assessing unobservables, and instrumental-variable two-stage least squares (2SLS). The negative impact is concentrated among high socioeconomic status (SES) families; it is not significant for low-SES families due to credit constraints and stronger mobility incentives. Mechanism analysis indicates that while higher IGM may increase investment confidence, it ultimately reduces FEI by lowering excessive parental educational anxiety and status-seeking behavior. Promoting equality of opportunity may mitigate negative educational competition and support China’s “Double Reduction” policy.

Nan Zhao, Wanqing Liao, Jun Xia, Zizhe Zhang