| Summary: | A number of developing countries are currently promoting vocational education and
training (VET) as a way to build human capital and strengthen economic growth. The
primary aim of this study is to understand whether VET at the high school level contributes
to human capital development in one of those countries—China. To fulfill this aim,
we draw on longitudinal data on more than 10,000 students in vocational high school
(in the most popular major, computing) and academic high school from two provinces
of China. First, estimates from instrumental variables and matching analyses show that
attending vocational high school (relative to academic high school) substantially
reduces math skills and does not improve computing skills. Second, heterogeneous
effect estimates also show that attending vocational high school increases dropout, especially
among disadvantaged (low-income or low-ability) students. Third, we use vertically
scaled (equated) baseline and follow-up test scores to measure gains in math and
computing skills among the students. We find that students who attend vocational high
school experience absolute reductions in math skills. Taken together, our findings
suggest that the rapid expansion of vocational schooling as a substitute for academic
schooling can have detrimental consequences for building human capital in developing
countries such as China.
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