The Effects on Economic Growth of Investment in Three Education Stages in China

This article establishes a production function model containing physical capital investment, labor force and investment in three education stages. The author analyzes and compares the effects of primary, secondary, and higher education on economic growth for flow measures of investment in education: enrollment rates, public expenditures, and expenditures per student. The conclusion of Panel Data Model during 1998 to 2006 suggests that increasing public expenditures and enrollment rate of common secondary education significantly benefits economic growth in short-term and long-term, so does increasing expenditures per student on primary education. In contrast, investment in higher education has much less effects on economic growth. The author suggests that education investment should input more to common primary and secondary education than to higher education.