Prospect of educational economics

Under the background that the global economy is gradually moving towards a knowledge economy, the rate of return on education investment has fundamentally changed from that under the traditional industrial economy. In the era of industrial economy, the yield of primary education is usually the highest, followed by secondary education and the lowest in higher education. In the era of knowledge economy, this feature has changed. For example, in South Korea, research shows that the social rate of return of male workers' higher education surpassed that of secondary education in 1977, and it continued to rise in the 1980s. While the wage gap between production and service industries is gradually narrowing, the wage gap between secondary and higher education graduates in academic and technical industries is still rising to a certain extent, which reflects the society's continuous demand for high-level professional skills. In the era of knowledge economy, not only the return on investment of higher education may change obviously, but also the employment advantage of people with higher education in the labor market may become more obvious. Studies in some countries show that the faster the development of knowledge-intensive production methods, the greater the demand for highly skilled workers, and the remuneration of these workers is also rising.

Because China's labor market is still in the development stage, immature, incomplete information transmission and insufficient market competition. Furthermore, China's economy is in a period of rapid growth, with an average annual economic growth rate of about 9% from 199 1 to 200 1, and the industrial structure is also in the process of adjustment. Moreover, everyone who receives higher education has to go through three to four years of university study before entering the labor market, which brings the lagging effect of higher education. A series of social, economic, educational conditions and cultural traditions will bring people's demand for higher education. Scientific research on the relationship between the scale structure of higher education and the scale structure of economy, and the relationship between the demand of higher education and the demand of labor market can not only reflect how to make the planning of higher education achieve the optimal efficiency, but also meet people's different needs and provide decision-making basis for individuals and governments to invest in higher education. (Source: Nanfeng Public Welfare College)

As an interdisciplinary subject, higher education economics is not only an important research field concerned by educators, but also the focus of attention on the relationship between knowledge economy and higher education, the relationship between human resources development and higher education, and the fairness and efficiency of higher education. On the other hand, higher education economists also turn their research horizons to economics and finance from time to time, and integrate with them. For example, investment in higher education can not only obtain social benefits, but also have obvious spillover benefits. In addition, in terms of product attributes, the output of higher education is quasi-public goods, so the government's investment in higher education is still the main source of funds for higher education. Then, the position of higher education financial allocation in public finance is naturally concerned by higher education economists. Establishing an orderly, standardized and stable financial allocation system for higher education in the public finance system is still a key point in the research of higher education economics at the beginning of 2 1 century.

On the other hand, people pay more and more attention to the tuition of colleges and universities today, when the cost compensation of higher education in China has been widely implemented. Especially with the expansion of the scale of higher education and the tightening of financial funds, the cost compensation of higher education has become an important non-financial financing channel. In this case, it is a problem that cannot be ignored in the financial policy of higher education to formulate a reasonable tuition level of higher education and provide effective student financial assistance measures. It is the duty of higher education economists to study this problem deeply.

In addition, private higher education appears as a supplementary form of public higher education in China, in order to meet the effective demand for higher education that public higher education cannot meet. Its appearance and development not only reflect the residents' demand for higher education, but also reflect another form of cost compensation. Private college graduates start their own businesses and have closer ties with the labor market. Their demand for higher education can better reflect the demand of the labor market. Therefore, the research on all aspects of private higher education is also a subject that higher education economics must face.

Looking forward to the future, the scale development, structural adjustment, school-running benefit and quality improvement of higher education are closely related to the socio-economic system, structure and institutional environment. With the rapid development of science and technology, institutional change and structural adjustment, researchers of higher education economics are facing more research opportunities, and the development of educational economics will be enriched and mature with the enrichment of research. I believe that our efforts will produce more brilliant flowers and fruitful fruits, and the research on higher education economics will be more prosperous and energetic. (Source: Nanfeng Public Welfare College)