Table 1 Variable definition and descriptive statistics
Variable | Definition | Mean | Standard error |
|---|---|---|---|
Acreage of land endowment (logarithm) | Acreage of land possessed by the household (Chinese mu) | 1.42 | 1.04 |
Education of child | Decision on child’s education, hierarchical variable | 2.19 | 1.20 |
Income per capita (logarithm) | Arithmetic mean value of income per capita in the previous 12 months (RMB) | 8.40 | .83 |
Demographic variables of child | |||
Gender | Dummy, 1 indicates male | 49.93% | |
Age | Age of the child | 21.40 | 3.15 |
Demographic variables of household | |||
Male proportion | Proportion of male members in the household | .52 | .23 |
Household size | Numbers of household members | 4.34 | 1.20 |
Over-60 proportion | Proportion of senior members over 60 years old in the household | .11 | .15 |
Under-18 proportion | Proportion of young members under 18 years old in the household | .13 | .15 |
Migrant proportion | Proportion of migrant workers in the household | .46 | .30 |
Medicare insurance | Dummy, 1 indicates the household has insurance through the new rural cooperative medical system (NCMS) | 91.37% | |
Region | |||
Eastern provinces | Sample from eastern province | 47.49% | |
Central provinces | Sample from central province | 26.60% | |
Western provinces | Sample from western province | 25.90% | |
Household background variables | |||
Parents’ average education | Arithmetic mean value of parents’ education period (year) | 6.77 | 3.75 |
Management and professional | Dummy, 1 indicates at least one of the parents works a as manager or professional | 21.40% | |
Commercial and business service | Dummy, 1 indicates at least one of the parents works in commercial or business service while neither of the parents holds a position as a manager or professional | 32.57% | |
Manual workers, farmers, and others | Dummy, 1 indicates both parents works as manual laborers, farmers, or others | 46.03% | |