This study uses data from a 1988 survey of Chinese individuals to estimate rates of return to schooling in China. The Mincer-type rate of return to schooling was estimated at 4.02 percent in rural areas and 3.29 percent in urban areas; these are fairly low estimates compared with similar...

This paper is based closely on the author's Y. C. Jao lecture presented to the Hong Kong Economic Association in November 1998.