The first two pieces of work in this thesis look into the strategic decision of intergenerational educational investment and its implication to income inequality, skill distribution and income mobility. The contribution of my work is to incorporate matching frictions into the marriage market and analyze returns from strategic educational investments. The mechanism in the marriage market adopted follows the spirit of the competitive search model which interprets the ‘mismatch’ phenomenon as the result of coordination frictions in the matching process. The competitiveness and frictions in the family formation process create decreasing returns to high educational investment. The more parental households who choose high educational investment, the less is the return to high educational investment compared to the lower alternative. The fact that rich parental households suffer less from costly high educational investment puts the poor households at a disadvantage and the poor are more likely to be crowded out of the group that have incentives to choose high investment. The model predicts that given a certain parameter region, children of poor parents are more likely to become skilled if the fraction of rich parental households is not too large. In a multi-generational dynamic setting, it further implies the existence of a stationary household income distribution and income mobility rates. An increase in returns to education alone generates a larger stationary fraction of rich households and a larger upward income mobility rate. An increase in the cost of the high educational investment alone generates a smaller stationary fraction of rich households and a smaller upward income mobility rate. The third piece of work looks into the strategic interaction between passenger carriers over product quality and the location choice in a duopoly scheduled flight market. The model predicts that the two carriers prefer to be specialized in different flight quality (non-stop vs. one-stop) and adopt the same schedule when a higher quality difference makes the consumers less sensitive to the flight frequency. It contributes to literatures on the application of two-dimensional product differentiation in air-travel market analysis.

本論文主要是以教育投資的觀點，探討海崍兩岸四十年來教育思想與政策相互影響的情形，分析兩岸教育發展與經濟成長的關係，並探討教育投資策略的優劣，比較兩岸教育發展的成就，以作為未來兩岸教育投資的參考。 本文共分文章，各章之研究重點如次： 第一章緒論：說明研究的意義與動機目的，研究的理論架構與方法。 第二章教育投資的沒義與理論：首先說明教育投資觀念的興起，教育投資的特質，教育投資的功能與重要性，教育投資與經濟發展的關係；其次探討教育投資的理論，分析教育投資與人力資源、生產理論、所得水準的關係。再研究教育投資與教育發展的互動關係和教育經費的來源與分配。 第三章兩岸教育發展的思想理論與政策：探討影響兩岸教育投資的政策指示和最高指導思想理論，主要的思想理論指導者，臺灣方面是三民主義的國父孫中山先生和先總統蔣中正先生；大陸方面是共產主義的馬克思、列寧、毛澤東和鄧小平。兩岸的教育政策部份主要是配合經濟計劃和政治發展而制定。 第四章兩岸教育發展趨勢比較分析：擬訂十個指標以檢定兩岸的教育發展和投資，以比較分析兩岸教育投資的成果和優劣。經費來源方面，發現早期兩岸的教育投資並不多，近十年才大幅增加，而臺灣的實質教育投資高於大陸，但兩岸的投資都比世界平均水準低；經費分配方兩岸都偏重高等教育而嚴重忽視初等教育；教育產出方面，臺灣人民平均教育水準高於大陸，而且大陸文盲人口仍然偏多，對未來發展將產生負面影響。 第五章兩岸教育投資對經濟成長之貢獻：本論文採用報酬率法和殘餘因素法，試估兩岸教育投資對經濟成長之貢獻。發現兩岸近十年由於教育投資的增加，促使人力素質的提昇，對經濟成長之貢獻比從前為高。 第六章結論：提出本文的發現、心得和綜合性的評價，期望這研究對促進兩岸的瞭解有所助益。

En tant que grand pays agricole, il est très important d'étudier la consommation des ménages en Chine rurale. De nombreux facteurs peuvent affecter la consommation, tels que les facteurs liés à l'évolution du marché du travail, à savoir le nombre croissant de migrations rurales et urbaines, mais aussi des changements sans précédent dans l'accumulation de la richesse des ménages. Or, la façon dont la consommation est affectée par la migration et la richesse des ménages n’a jusqu’à présent été que très peu étudiée. En ce qui concerne la consommation des ménages ruraux, la question connexe de la pauvreté nécessite également d’être analysée, notamment pour la Chine à travers le ciblage d’une politique particulière de réduction de la pauvreté, le programme Dibao.Le premier chapitre de cette thèse se concentre sur l'impact de la migration et des envois de fonds sur l'investissement dans l'éducation en Chine rurale. A l’aide de données microéconomiques extraites du China household Income Project (CHIP) 2013, nous mettons en évidence leur rôle négatif, en soulignant néanmoins que le montant des envois de fonds peut servir de mécanisme d'assurance. Le deuxième chapitre se concentre sur l'effet de la richesse sur la consommation des ménages et ses changements entre 2002 et 2013. Il montre que la propension marginale à consommer hors de la richesse nette est très significative et elle augmente avec le temps pour les ménages urbains et ruraux. En outre, les effets de richesse en matière de logement sont importants, en particulier pour les ménages ruraux, tandis que l'élasticité estimée de la consommation par rapport aux actifs financiers est beaucoup plus faible sur cette même période. Le troisième chapitre évalue les performances de ciblage du programme Dibao rural et met en exergue des erreurs de ciblage assez importantes en utilisant des critères traditionnels d'identification des revenus. Cependant, avec un critère d'identification multidimensionnel, l'efficacité du ciblage augmente, même si le taux de couverture reste faible. / As a large agricultural country, it is of great importance to study on household consumption in rural China. Many factors may affect consumption, such factors including not only those related to the tremendous changes in the labor market, i.e., the increasing number of rural to urban migration, but also unprecedented changes in the accumulation of household wealth. Until now, systematic evidence is missing on how consumption is affected by migration and household wealth. Moreover, regarding rural household consumption, another related issue, consumption poverty, should also be studied, but so far less has been said on the targeting performance of the poverty alleviation policy, the rural Dibao Program.The first chapter concentrates on the impact of migration and remittances on educational investment in rural China. Using household data from the China Household Income Project 2013, we find that they both play a negative role, but the amount of remittances can act as an insurance mechanism. The second chapter focuses on the wealth effect on consumption and its changes between 2002 and 2013. It shows that the marginal propensity to consume out of net wealth is highly significant and it increases over time for both urban and rural households. Moreover, housing wealth effects are strong, especially for the rural households, while the estimated elasticity of consumption with respect to financial assets is much smaller and elusive over the two years. The third chapter evaluates the targeting performance of the rural Dibao program. The result reveals quite large targeting errors using traditional income identification criteria. However, after taken the multi-dimensional identification criterion the targeting effectiveness increases, but the coverage rate remains low.

Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo comparativo da socialização política nas escolas de ensino médio em Porto Alegre/RS, entre os anos de 2002 e 2015. Utilizando o conceito de competência cívica, buscou-se avaliar as dimensões afetivas e cognitivas que impulsionam os jovens à cidadania ativa. O objetivo principal foi verificar se o aumento de investimentos em políticas educacionais neste período gerou uma maior competência cívica nos jovens. A hipótese central é de que estas políticas não foram capazes de alterar os níveis de capital social, cultura e sofisticação política dos jovens, indicando a continuidade de uma cultura política híbrida e pouco participativa. Para isso, utilizam-se os dados de pesquisa survey realizada no âmbito do Núcleo de Pesquisa sobre América Latina (NUPESAL) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), bem como dos investimentos realizados pelo Governo Federal nos anos de 2002 e de 2015 Os resultados obtidos comprovam a hipótese enunciada de que as políticas sociais e educacionais não foram suficientes para modificar o padrão de cultura política híbrida nos jovens. As escolas públicas não somente diminuíram seu índice de competência cívica em relação a 2002, como também ampliaram a distância dos seus indicadores em relação às escolas privadas em 2015. A conclusão da dissertação é de que as políticas implementadas entre 2002 e 2015 possibilitaram uma ampliação e universalização do acesso à educação sem expandir a qualidade de ensino, sobretudo quando em comparação à rede privada. Os índices encontrados demonstram que a desigualdade educacional no país, principalmente no âmbito da inclusão cidadã, ainda está longe de ser solucionada. / This dissertation presents a comparative study of political socialization in secondary schools in Porto Alegre/RS, in the years of 2002 and 2015. Using the concept of civic competence, we sought to evaluate the affective and cognitive dimensions that impel young people to become active citizens. The main objective was to verify if the increase of investments in social policies in this period generated a greater civic competence among the youth. The central hypothesis is that these policies were not able to change the levels of social capital, culture and political sophistication of young people, indicating the continuity of a hybrid political culture. To do so, we used the survey data of the Research Centre on Latin America (NUPESAL) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in the years of 2002 and 2015, as well as the investments made by the Federal Government through this period. The results obtained prove the hypothesis that social and educational policies were not sufficient to change the pattern of hybrid political culture in the public school system. Public schools not only reduced their civic competence index in relation to 2002, but also stretched the distance of their indicators from private schools in 2015. The conclusion of this dissertation is that the policies implemented between 2002 and 2015 allowed an expansion and universalization of the access without increasing the quality of education, especially when compared to the private schools. The index found in this study, indicate that educational inequality in the country, especially in the context of citizen inclusion, is still far from being solved.

This basic qualitative study examines the parental investment strategies of first-generation African American rural college graduates in cultivating college student success. Extant literature has demonstrated that the role of the family is necessary to support the college student and that the investment of the parent is paramount to student college completion. Although educational attainment is an important goal for African American rural residents, research detailing strategies that cultivated student college completion among this population is needed to fill the gaps in the literature. The objectives were to discuss communication, involvement, and factors of influence to determine how these parents transferred their educational beliefs to their children and supported them through college graduation. These stories of success were told through the eyes of first-generation parents and their second-generation adult offspring. Research detailing the parental investment strategies toward college completion is necessary to inform parents, educational institutions, and rural college student completion in postsecondary institutions of the strategies necessary to ensure college success in this population. Lieberman’s transgenerational theory, along with concepts extracted from parental investment as it relates to education, provided the conceptual lens for the study. Data collected through interviews and documents were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted with parents and their adult offspring. Interviews gleaned the lived experiences of the participants. Data analysis revealed six themes: (a) Catch Them Early, (b) Set the Tone, (c) Keep Them Busy, (d) Don’t Let Them “Break Rank,” (e) Encourage Advancement, and (f) Tell the Generations. The findings support the importance of developing a family investment team, how a return on parental investment occurs, making use of rural extracurricular programming, and transferring positive beliefs regarding higher education.

Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo comparativo da socialização política nas escolas de ensino médio em Porto Alegre/RS, entre os anos de 2002 e 2015. Utilizando o conceito de competência cívica, buscou-se avaliar as dimensões afetivas e cognitivas que impulsionam os jovens à cidadania ativa. O objetivo principal foi verificar se o aumento de investimentos em políticas educacionais neste período gerou uma maior competência cívica nos jovens. A hipótese central é de que estas políticas não foram capazes de alterar os níveis de capital social, cultura e sofisticação política dos jovens, indicando a continuidade de uma cultura política híbrida e pouco participativa. Para isso, utilizam-se os dados de pesquisa survey realizada no âmbito do Núcleo de Pesquisa sobre América Latina (NUPESAL) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), bem como dos investimentos realizados pelo Governo Federal nos anos de 2002 e de 2015 Os resultados obtidos comprovam a hipótese enunciada de que as políticas sociais e educacionais não foram suficientes para modificar o padrão de cultura política híbrida nos jovens. As escolas públicas não somente diminuíram seu índice de competência cívica em relação a 2002, como também ampliaram a distância dos seus indicadores em relação às escolas privadas em 2015. A conclusão da dissertação é de que as políticas implementadas entre 2002 e 2015 possibilitaram uma ampliação e universalização do acesso à educação sem expandir a qualidade de ensino, sobretudo quando em comparação à rede privada. Os índices encontrados demonstram que a desigualdade educacional no país, principalmente no âmbito da inclusão cidadã, ainda está longe de ser solucionada. / This dissertation presents a comparative study of political socialization in secondary schools in Porto Alegre/RS, in the years of 2002 and 2015. Using the concept of civic competence, we sought to evaluate the affective and cognitive dimensions that impel young people to become active citizens. The main objective was to verify if the increase of investments in social policies in this period generated a greater civic competence among the youth. The central hypothesis is that these policies were not able to change the levels of social capital, culture and political sophistication of young people, indicating the continuity of a hybrid political culture. To do so, we used the survey data of the Research Centre on Latin America (NUPESAL) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in the years of 2002 and 2015, as well as the investments made by the Federal Government through this period. The results obtained prove the hypothesis that social and educational policies were not sufficient to change the pattern of hybrid political culture in the public school system. Public schools not only reduced their civic competence index in relation to 2002, but also stretched the distance of their indicators from private schools in 2015. The conclusion of this dissertation is that the policies implemented between 2002 and 2015 allowed an expansion and universalization of the access without increasing the quality of education, especially when compared to the private schools. The index found in this study, indicate that educational inequality in the country, especially in the context of citizen inclusion, is still far from being solved.

Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo comparativo da socialização política nas escolas de ensino médio em Porto Alegre/RS, entre os anos de 2002 e 2015. Utilizando o conceito de competência cívica, buscou-se avaliar as dimensões afetivas e cognitivas que impulsionam os jovens à cidadania ativa. O objetivo principal foi verificar se o aumento de investimentos em políticas educacionais neste período gerou uma maior competência cívica nos jovens. A hipótese central é de que estas políticas não foram capazes de alterar os níveis de capital social, cultura e sofisticação política dos jovens, indicando a continuidade de uma cultura política híbrida e pouco participativa. Para isso, utilizam-se os dados de pesquisa survey realizada no âmbito do Núcleo de Pesquisa sobre América Latina (NUPESAL) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), bem como dos investimentos realizados pelo Governo Federal nos anos de 2002 e de 2015 Os resultados obtidos comprovam a hipótese enunciada de que as políticas sociais e educacionais não foram suficientes para modificar o padrão de cultura política híbrida nos jovens. As escolas públicas não somente diminuíram seu índice de competência cívica em relação a 2002, como também ampliaram a distância dos seus indicadores em relação às escolas privadas em 2015. A conclusão da dissertação é de que as políticas implementadas entre 2002 e 2015 possibilitaram uma ampliação e universalização do acesso à educação sem expandir a qualidade de ensino, sobretudo quando em comparação à rede privada. Os índices encontrados demonstram que a desigualdade educacional no país, principalmente no âmbito da inclusão cidadã, ainda está longe de ser solucionada. / This dissertation presents a comparative study of political socialization in secondary schools in Porto Alegre/RS, in the years of 2002 and 2015. Using the concept of civic competence, we sought to evaluate the affective and cognitive dimensions that impel young people to become active citizens. The main objective was to verify if the increase of investments in social policies in this period generated a greater civic competence among the youth. The central hypothesis is that these policies were not able to change the levels of social capital, culture and political sophistication of young people, indicating the continuity of a hybrid political culture. To do so, we used the survey data of the Research Centre on Latin America (NUPESAL) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in the years of 2002 and 2015, as well as the investments made by the Federal Government through this period. The results obtained prove the hypothesis that social and educational policies were not sufficient to change the pattern of hybrid political culture in the public school system. Public schools not only reduced their civic competence index in relation to 2002, but also stretched the distance of their indicators from private schools in 2015. The conclusion of this dissertation is that the policies implemented between 2002 and 2015 allowed an expansion and universalization of the access without increasing the quality of education, especially when compared to the private schools. The index found in this study, indicate that educational inequality in the country, especially in the context of citizen inclusion, is still far from being solved.