概要

The paper reviews the trends in educational expansion, inequality of educational opportunities, and differential socio-economic returns to education in East Asian societies (China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). First, the paper depicts evolving organizational structure and stratification within the educational system. Second, it examines the trends in the inequality of educational opportunities focusing on the distinction between nominal and positional approaches to measuring education. Given the rapid expansion of educational system in East Asia, four societies provide an intriguing case for examining whether educational expansion leads to reducing inequality of educational opportunities. Four East Asian societies appeared to show diverging trends: South Korea and Taiwan showed declining inequality but Japan and China did not.

Third, it analyzes the relationship between educational credentials and socio-economic positions and shows how socio-economic returns to education change over time and vary across societies. There was no clear evidence of over-education, that is, the declining socio-economic value of educational credentials following educational expansion in East Asia, with the exception of South Korea. College wage premium and income returns to education declined in South Korea, but not the occupational returns to education. The paper concludes by suggesting complex and contingent relationships among educational expansion, inequality of educational opportunities, and socio-economic returns to education in East Asia.