Educational economics has gone through more than two centuries, which is a long process, from the germination of ancient educational economic thoughts to the formation of educational economics in the 1950s, and then to the development of educational economics today. In fact, the establishment and development of any discipline cannot be achieved overnight. It needs knowledge construction and social recognition, which is a gradual process.
Educational economics, pedagogy and economics restrict each other.
Educational economics is an interdisciplinary subject with both economics and pedagogy, and its development cannot be separated from the development of these two disciplines. Throughout the development of educational economics, the development of educational economics in each period is based on the development of economics or pedagogy, which in turn promotes the development of economics and pedagogy.
The development of educational economics is related to social development.
The establishment of a discipline needs a certain social, political and economic background, and what kind of social, political and economic conditions will produce what kind of ideas and theories. The low productivity and scientific and technological level in ancient times restricted the development of education economy, and people's understanding of the relationship between education and economy was superficial and immature, which could only stay in the embryonic stage. Secondly, in 1950s and 1960s, influenced by the second industrial revolution, people began to pay attention to the application of science and technology in production, so there was a demand for education. This social background promoted the establishment of educational economics. Since the 1970s, social development has ushered in a new era and many new problems have emerged. Educational economics is constantly improving and developing in the process of solving these problems.
From the formation and development of educational economics, we can see that the formation and development of any subject is a long process, which is gradually developed with the development of society and the continuous improvement of people's understanding. In different social backgrounds, it is constantly supplemented in theory and applied to society in practice to solve problems. The development process of a discipline is the process of self-improvement. The economics of education has been constantly revised since it was founded and developed. With the development of society, many new problems will appear, and the economics of education will continue to develop and enrich.
The Development of Educational Economics Research in China
The research of educational economics has sprouted in China in the 1920s and 1930s, but it has not developed into an independent discipline on the basis of years of war. Generally speaking, as an independent discipline, the systematic introduction and special study of educational economics began in China in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
With the development of educational economics research in China, its research branches have begun to appear. Li Yining, an economist, believes that educational economics can be divided into four research aspects: macro, micro, structure and system. Macroeconomics of education focuses on the relationship between education and macroeconomic operation, education and gross national product, education investment and fiscal revenue and expenditure. Micro-educational economics focuses on the rational use of educational funds, the basis for determining the remuneration of educated workers, the economies of scale of educational units, and the changing trend of family education expenditure by using input-output analysis, cost-benefit analysis and cost-benefit analysis of educational investment. Structural education economics is to study the regional structure of education and the reasonable proportional relationship between schools at all levels. These two structures are related to the adjustment of industrial structure, technical structure, employment structure and regional economic structure in the process of economic growth. The focus of institutional education economics research is to analyze the institutional environment, institutional conditions and the consequences caused by institutional structure in educational economy.
The author believes that according to the research object, educational economics can be divided into higher education economics, basic education economics, vocational and adult education economics and so on. From the research field, educational economics includes the economic research of educational finance and educational planning. Educational finance is a branch of educational economics and public finance, which mainly studies financial problems in educational activities. The economic research of educational planning is based on the research of economics, sociology and planning, and studies the scale, structure and capital demand of educational development from the perspectives of labor demand, social and personal demand and cost-benefit analysis, as well as the adaptability of education to social and economic development. The vigorous development of China's higher education economics research, the theories and methods of China's educational economics not only absorb and draw lessons from the achievements of western educational economics, but also combine the actual situation of China's social and economic development, establish and develop educational economics research with obvious China characteristics, and affirm the great role of education in social and economic development. Among them, for the research in the field of higher education, many high-quality research results of higher education economics have emerged in different periods, which have made important contributions to the healthy development of higher education in China.
On the proportion of higher education funds in gross national product
The viewpoint that education investment is productive investment has been consolidated and improved on the basis of systematic theoretical discussion and empirical research. The research on the proportion of education funds to GDP shows that the investment level of education funds and higher education funds in China is lower than the international average level and the average level of countries with the same developed level. Therefore, in order to adapt education investment to the level of economic development, the scale of higher education and the scale of higher education, we should increase education investment at all levels and connect with the international average level as soon as possible.
These studies provide a powerful reference for the level of education investment that our government should reach, and actively promote the macro-decision of increasing education investment. On this basis, 1993 The Outline of Reform and Development in China promulgated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council pointed out the policy goal that the proportion of fiscal education expenditure in China's gross national product should reach 4% by the end of the 20th century, and stipulated the principle of "three growth" in education expenditure.
On the development form and internal efficiency of higher education
From 1978 to 1989, the growth rate of the number of colleges and universities in China is slightly lower than that of the number of college students, while the annual growth rate of the average number of college students is much lower than that of schools and students. This "extensional" development of higher education makes the use of limited education funds inefficient. 1988, the average size of colleges and universities in China was about 1922, and the average student-teacher ratio was 5.25: 1. By then, if the ratio of students to teachers is increased to10:1,the recurrent expenditure per student can be reduced by 24% without changing the average size of students. If the average size of students is increased to 4,000 and the ratio of students to teachers is increased to 10: 1, the annual recurrent expenditure of each student can be reduced by 4 18 yuan. Further research also found that the average scale of running a school with 4000 students was close to the medium scale of colleges and universities at that time. On this basis, this study puts forward some policy suggestions, such as higher education should take the road of connotative development and reform the school-running system according to the theory of scale benefit. These studies and conclusions have strongly influenced the formulation of policies such as the overall scale of higher education is mainly connotative development, the merger of small-scale universities, and the adjustment of school structure.
Mode of appropriation system for higher education funds
On the basis of extensive discussion and research on the internal efficiency of education investment, researchers realize that there are not only problems of low investment and resource shortage in higher education in China, but also unreasonable and inefficient resource allocation, so improving the efficiency of education resources has become another way to solve the resource shortage. At this stage, educational economists have made normative and empirical research on the distribution of educational funds, between schools, within schools and the investment system of higher education.
The multi-policy parameter higher education funding model based on cost behavior takes transparency, fairness and effectiveness as the basic principles, takes the government's funding for higher education as the object, absorbs the beneficial experience of international higher education funding, reconstructs the cost structure of higher education, and provides a scientific model for resource allocation among universities.
In view of the fact that fair, just, effective and transparent funding methods must be based on the corresponding funding system, some studies have investigated the experience of international higher education funding system and put forward the idea of establishing China's higher education funding system. The research holds that the establishment of higher education fund system can gradually change the affiliated status of colleges and universities and make them truly become legal entities that run schools independently for the society; It can promote the transformation of government functions from fragmented direct management of higher education to policy guidance and macro-control; It can make government distribution fully embody the principles of fairness, transparency and effectiveness; We can establish a higher education management system in which central and local governments are responsible at different levels. (Source: Nanfeng Public Welfare College)
Some studies show that education funds should be budgeted separately. The purpose of separate budget for education is to realize the unification of educational power and financial power, ensure the government's investment in education, make the demand for educational development more coordinated with the government's investment, and better improve the efficiency of educational resource allocation. Implementing a separate education budget is also conducive to the establishment and implementation of the higher education fund system. This proposal is embodied in Article 55 of Chapter VII of the Education Law of the People's Republic of China, and its legal provisions are as follows: "The education funds of people's governments at all levels shall be listed separately in the fiscal budget according to the principle of the unification of administrative and financial rights."
On the External Efficiency of Higher Education
In a certain period of time, China's income distribution is unreasonable. One of the manifestations is that the education level is not directly proportional to the labor income, and there is a phenomenon of "brain and body upside down". One of the main reasons for "brain upside down" is from the institutional level, that is to say, under the economic conditions of China in the 1980s, the wage income of workers was mainly determined by the personnel wage policy, which could not reflect their labor productivity.
In the late 1990s, the research on the rate of return of higher education showed that the unreasonable phenomenon of "upside down" in income distribution has been reversed as a whole, and higher education is an investment that can bring benefits to individuals. The rate of return on education is increasing year by year. The annual Mincer's rate of return for undergraduates is 8.23% 1996, 9.68% 1 1.35%. This shows that the Mincer's rate of return of undergraduate students in China has exceeded the usual rate of return of 198 physical capital investment 10%.
When studying the relationship between education and labor productivity, educational economists in China integrate the theory of work effort into the traditional human capital model, and introduce job satisfaction as an intermediary variable into the regression model of the influence of education on labor productivity, and deeply analyze the influence of organizational behavior factors on labor productivity. This not only greatly enriches the theory of human capital, but also plays an extremely important role in the application of organizational management theory in social production, which has important theoretical and practical significance.
These studies provide strong evidence for China to formulate a more reasonable labor wage policy, and also provide a useful theoretical basis for the transfer of labor allocation from direct government management to market economy with market regulation as the main form.
Multi-channel financing and cost sharing of higher education funds
Since the 1980s, due to the continuous growth of people's demand for higher education and the decline of governments' enthusiasm for higher education investment, there has been a global financial tightening of higher education funds. Inconsistent with the increasing enrollment of higher education in various countries, during the period of 1985- 1994, the proportion of public education funds to GDP remained stable at around 5%. The situation in China is even worse. In the 1990s, the proportion of fiscal education funds to GDP was basically 2.0%, far below the international average. At the same time, the pattern of national income distribution has undergone tremendous changes. The proportion of government revenue in the gross national product is relatively reduced, and the share of households and enterprises is relatively increased. The source of education funds has changed from a single channel to a variety of channels, including government grants, additional education fees, tuition and miscellaneous fees, school-run industries and donations from social undertakings, individuals or social organizations serving education, education funds, research funds and so on.
Among them, it is an important way for beneficiaries or their families to share part of the cost of higher education. In-depth research on the population age structure, family income, the change of private rate of return of higher education and the fair effect of higher education cost compensation clearly shows the theoretical and empirical basis for implementing cost sharing and cost compensation policies in the non-compulsory education stage of higher education.
On the Personal Needs of Higher Education
With the improvement of people's material living standards and the enhancement of spiritual civilization, people's demand for higher education is growing day by day. On the other hand, the school-age population receiving higher education continues to grow and will continue to grow in the future. These aspects have promoted the demand of residents and their families for higher education. After the implementation of higher education cost compensation, although the educated individuals and their families bear part of the cost of receiving higher education, tuition fees have undoubtedly become an important source of funds for private investment in higher education by educational institutions, thus increasing the ability of institutions to provide education supply. At the same time, for the educated individuals and their families, tuition fees and student financial aid, as an important economic factor, together with the family's socio-economic status and expected income in the future, have become economic characteristics that affect the individual's demand for higher education.
The research shows that with the increase of tuition fees in higher education year by year, tuition fees have gradually become an important factor for people to choose higher education, and educators of different income classes have different responses to tuition fees with the increase of tuition fees. These conclusions provide a powerful theoretical basis for the disadvantaged groups in education aid. In order to maintain the fairness of educational opportunities, so that every qualified scholar will not drop out of school because of family financial difficulties, it is inevitable to carry out education aid for students with financial difficulties.
On the influence of expanding the scale of higher education on economic growth and employment
65438-0999 Under the dual pressure of stimulating consumption to stimulate domestic demand and residents' huge demand for higher education, the policy of expanding the enrollment scale of higher education was introduced. Higher education is regarded as a production department that promotes economic growth, increases consumer demand and promotes the development of related industries. So to what extent can the expansion of higher education stimulate people to invest in higher education and stimulate weak consumer demand? Researchers use the input-output multiplier to estimate the pulling effect of higher education sector on the total output of national economy. The results show that the output multiplier of higher education departments is lower than the average level of output multipliers of various departments. Compared with insurance, private car consumption, real estate, household appliances, computers and other departments that can attract private investment, the output multiplier and influence coefficient of higher education departments are slightly higher than real estate, but they are still not as powerful as insurance, automobile manufacturing, construction, household appliances and computers to the national economy.
In terms of the impact on employment, the expansion of higher education enrollment has delayed the employment of graduates at all levels and played a role as a reservoir. On the other hand, the expansion of higher education demand will directly or indirectly create new employment opportunities.
On the Operating Mechanism of Higher Education
The operating mechanism of higher education refers to the way in which all components of higher education system and other social and economic factors closely related to the operation of higher education system are interrelated and interacted with each other. With the deepening of China's social and economic system reform and the rapid development of the socialist market economy, the operating mechanism of higher education under the planned economy is undergoing profound changes, and the operating mechanism of higher education adapted to the socialist market economic system is gradually taking shape. Under the background of these two systems, the operation of higher education system is essentially different. Under the condition of planned economy, the main body of manpower, material resources and financial resources allocation is the government, which makes plans and directly manages them. Colleges, students and employers should contact the government according to the government's plan when using resources, and the relationship between them is out of line. Under the condition of market economy, the main body of resource allocation is the market, and the government plays the role of indirect management and macro-control to safeguard social equity. At the same time, due to the quasi-public product characteristics of higher education, the higher education sector is different from the private product sector, and its resource allocation cannot rely entirely on market operation, which requires government intervention to a great extent. Under the condition of planned economy, the relationship between government and universities is neither direct management nor completely market-oriented.
The research on the operating mechanism of higher education is not only the category of normative research, but also the field of empirical research. This study not only theoretically discusses the essential difference between the operating mechanism of higher education under the conditions of planned economy and market economy, the internal relationship of higher education system under the conditions of market economy and its relationship with external factors, and the influence of the operating law of higher education system on the development speed, scale, structure, quality and benefit of higher education under the conditions of market economy, but also empirically studies the relationship between the scale of higher education and economic development, the internal resource allocation of higher education, the external efficiency of higher education, the allocation of external resources and the influence of economic factors on the demand of higher education.