教育是否促进了中国公民的政治选举投票参与──来自CGSS 2006 调查数据的证据

Does Education Promote Voting in China's Grassroots Democratic Election? Evidence from CGSS 2006

在中国的政治民主化进程和公民社会建设过程中,公民的政治参与是个重要问题。理论研究表明, 作为教育的非货币收益之一, 公民教育程度的提高有助于促进政治参与程度,但是针对中国的经验研究还相当少。基于政治社会化理论, 本文利用全国性调查数据, 研究了学校教育在公民政治选举投票参与中的作用。研究发现, 学校教育和政治选举投票参与行为之间具有显著的负相关关系。针对可能存在的内生性进行的工具变童佑计以及稳健性检验表明, 上述结果并没有显著发生变化。本文从学校教育在政治社会化过程中的作用以及选举制度两方面对上述结论进行了进一步的讨论。

In the course of China's political democratisation and its construction of a civil society, civic engagement and political participation are of critical importance. Theoretical studies have shown that as a nonmarket benefit of school education, expanding citizens' access to education and increasing the number of years of schooling should enhance civic and political participation. However, few empirical studies on the relationship between school education and political participation have been conducted in China. Using nationally representative survey data and the political socialisation theory, this paper examines the impact of school education on political participation in transitional China. It finds that an individual's school education level is negatively correlated with his or her likelihood of voting and some other relevant political participation behaviours. The results are robust, according to instrumental variable estimates corrected for the possible endogeneity bias and according to other subsample analyses. The paper further discusses these results from the perspectives of school education's function in political participation and the electoral system in China.