Research On The Income Distribution Effect Of Educational Assortative Mating From The Perspective Of Risk Aversion

The large income gap in Chinese society has become the main obstacle to realizing the strategic goal of common prosperity.Since the family plays a fundamental role in the social structure,marriage,as its bond,has always been an important factor affecting the income distribution.By measuring the popularization degree of educational assortative mating and the size of its income distribution effect,and clarifying its logical mechanism affecting income distribution,we can jump out of the traditional research paradigm on income distribution,enrich the existing theories on income gap from the perspective of educational assortative mating,and put forward reasonable suggestions to solve the problem of income gap from the above perspective.Based on the objective reality of the increasing educational assortative mating in our country and the lack of research and the ununified conclusion on the problem of income gap in the educational assortative mating in the academic circle,this paper chooses the income distribution effect of the educational assortative mating as the research topic,explores the income distribution effect of the educational assortative mating and analyzes the internal mechanism of its influence on income distribution by analyzing the following three questions:First,has the educational assortative mating been generalized?Second,does the educational assortative mating have significant income distribution effect?Third,will the difference of income mobility among educationally homogeneous families have an important impact on the convergence of social income distribution?The logical analysis starts from the objective reality of material deprivation.Overall,under the background of individual survival and competition risks,in the absence or imperfection of risk aversion market and social security system,marriage with intertemporal cooperation and mutual assistance function will gradually become an internal risk trading platform.The high and stable rate of return on education conforms to the inherent requirements of individuals to avoid risks through marriage,and the constraints of maximizing individual benefits and minimizing transaction costs enable the formation of the homogeneous family structure of education.However,the information mobility barriers between educational homogeneous family groups usually affect the social income mobility,and then lead to income distribution at the family level.Separately,on the one hand,based on the evaluation model,the classical delayed acceptance algorithm and the analysis of information and average field approximation theory,marriage matching will evolve into a universal educational assortative mating under the marriage view of high educational attainment.On the other hand,the results of income mobility model reveal the logical mechanism of income mobility affecting the convergence of social income distribution.To sum up,this paper puts forward three basic hypotheses as the object of empirical analysis:Basic hypothesis 1,the marriage matching pattern in Chinese society is dominated by educational assortative mating;Basic hypothesis 2,the homogeneous family structure of education will cause significant income gap among family groups of different educational levels;Basic hypothesis 3,the educational homogeneity family stratum structure at the social level formed by educational assortative mating will affect income mobility,and different initial income mobility states will lead to the convergence of social income distribution in different states.In view of the basic hypotheses above,firstly,this paper mainly uses descriptive statistics to explore the changing trend of the educational assortative mating in China from the perspectives of population,urban and rural areas,educational heterogeneous individuals and gender.The results show that the educational assortative mating has been generalized in our country.This conclusion responds to basic hypothesis 1 and shows that the educational assortative mating has the necessary conditions to affect income distribution.Then,using correlation analysis,counterfactual simulation,panel tool variable regression and income gap index decomposition,we estimated the income distribution effect of the educational assortative mating at the family level.The results show that there is a significant correlation between educational assortative mating and family income.Actual marriage matching shows a larger income gap than random matching.The income of families with higher education level is about 1.5 times higher than that of families with lower education level,and this difference is not adjusted by urban-rural and regional variables.About 30 per cent of the overall income gap and its variation is explained by the income gap and its variation between the upper and lower family groups at different levels of education.This conclusion well responds to basic hypothesis 2 and shows that the educational assortative mating is an important factor affecting income gap.Finally,income mobility and the convergence state of income distribution are analyzed by using state transition matrix and Markov chain.The results show that the income mobility of our country is poor.From the perspective of income mobility,the family group with higher education level has better growth,while the family group with lower education level has worse growth,and small differences in income mobility will bring big changes in income distribution.The above conclusions well respond to the basic hypothesis 3,and reveal the essential reasons of the influence of the educational assortative mating on income gap,and provide a new enlightenment for solving the problem of income gap.As a logical extension of the research conclusion,the policy recommendations in this paper mainly include:First,we should cultivate a new type of risk-averse market and improve the social security system,so as to replace the risk-averse function of educational assortative mating;Second,we should make full use of educational public policies to improve social income mobility with equitable education;Third,we should promote the reform of the individual income tax system based on the family unit and break down the barriers of information mobility,so as to achieve the purpose of reverse stimulating educational assortative mating with practical benefits and promoting income mobility with information mobility;Fourth,we should strengthen material production and tamp down the material foundation of risk aversion.