Regional Differences in College Attendance Rates Reexamined : Focusing on Pecuniary Benefits of Higher Education for Males by Prefecture in Contemporary Japan

ダイガク　シンガク　リツ　ノ　チイキ　カクサ　ノ　サイ　ケントウ : ダンシ　ノ　ダイガク　キョウイク　トウシ　ノ　トドウフケン　ベツ　ベンエキ　ニ　チャクモク　シテ

地域格差

大学教育の便益

College attendance rates

Regional differences in college attendance

Benefits of higher education

In this article, the college-going behavior of Japanese high school seniors was analyzed under a Human Capitalist framework, using aggregate data for the prefectures of Japan, and a national sample of Japanese twelfth graders and their parents. The aim of this analysis is to propose an explanation that addresses the mechanisms generating the structural differences in male college attendance rates among prefectures, focusing on the pecuniary benefits of higher education for males that vary by region. The major findings are as follows. First, an estimation of average hourly wage by prefecture for male general workers whose educational backgrounds are high school and college revealed that the larger the relative wage between high school graduates and those with a college degree (average earnings for college graduates divided by those of the high-school-educated), the smaller college attendance rates are. The relative wage for males in their early twenties is negatively correlated with the male labor demand for college graduates (defined as the number of college educated youth workers divided by that of high-school-educated employees in their twenties in the prefecture where they reside). Second, the prefectural college attendance rate was regressed on the regional labor demand for male college graduates. The analysis of twelfth graders whose prefectures of residence are in non-metropolitan areas clarified that the total rates of advancement to colleges and those to colleges outside of the prefecture of residence are higher in the prefectures with a greater male labor demand for the college-educated. Since enrollment rates for colleges outside or inside the prefecture are negatively correlated, there is scarcely any relationship between college capacity and the total rate of college enrollment. Third, a survey data analysis of male high school seniors confirmed the 70 relationship between college attendance and regional labor demand for male college graduates. Binary logit models for male college plans maintained that the students living in prefectures with more job opportunities for male college graduates are more likely to anticipate college attendance, after controlling for individual variations in family income and academic achievement at the ninth grade. In addition, for those who reside in non-metropolitan areas where the amount of local college graduate job opportunities is large, students are more likely to attend outside-of-prefecture colleges.