MULTIVARIATE TOBIT SYSTEM ESTIMATION OF EDUCATION EXPENDITURE IN URBAN CHINA

Using the 2007 education survey data in urban China, this paper measures the inequality of education expenditures, an indicator of education inequality, and analyzes the effect of household income on the components of education expenditures. Since the components of education expenditure are censored and inter-related, this paper runs a multivariate Tobit system regression of five categories of education expenditures. Our results imply that household income per capita positively affects expenditure on boarding, private tutoring and costs for selecting schools but does not affect expenditure on textbooks. In return, the inequality of education expenditures contribute to income inequality in urban China.