On July 24-25, 2023, the 7th Annual Conference of China Labor Economics Scholars Forum was held at Zhejiang University. The conference was co-hosted by the Council of China Labor Economics Scholars Forum, the School of Economics of Zhejiang University, the Research Center for Livelihood Security and Public Governance of Zhejiang University, and the Institute of Sharing and Development of Zhejiang University. It was supported by Economics (Quarterly), Management World, World Economy, Economic Science, Labor Economics Research, China Economic Problems, Educational and Economic Review, Economics Journal, China & World Economy, China Agricultural Economic Review, Economic and Political Studies, and other academic journals.
Zhang Zeyu, associate professor at the Macro Agricultural Research Institute, and Zheng Xuejing, a master's student, were invited to attend the forum, along with other undergraduate and master's students from their group.
In the “Market Segmentation and Discrimination” sub-forum, Zheng Xuejing shared an academic paper titled “Does Education Reduce Female Fertility Penalties?” Using survey data from the China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) 2016 and 2018, the paper verified through empirical analysis that fertility has a negative impact on married women's income, and that education can alleviate the income penalty associated with fertility. The presentation sparked discussions among scholars, and the participating experts offered many valuable suggestions.
On the afternoon of July 25, Associate Professor Zhang Zeyu, graduate student Zheng Xuejing, and other undergraduate students who attended with them participated in a presentation by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joshua Angrist.
Professor Joshua Angrist first introduced the question of whether students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are more successful because they are at MIT. Drawing on his own research findings, he discussed several key concepts and methods in applied econometrics: randomized control trials, natural experiments, local average treatment effects, and instrumental variables.
Professor Joshua Angrist then transitioned from econometric methodology to the theme of the presentation: the illusion of elite education. Many parents believe that an education at a prestigious school like MIT is the key to success. Parents and children work hard to get into these prestigious schools, but it seems that the rewards of an elite education are actually an illusion. Professor Joshua Angrist found that students who go to elite schools do not actually benefit from attending elite schools because this group of students is already smart and would have succeeded anyway. Finally, Professor Joshua Angrist re-emphasized the importance of econometrics, urging everyone not to be swayed by individual stories and to try to use econometric tools to explain real-life problems.
