| 蔡宇涵,郑新业.高等教育扩招政策与数字技能提升——基于“投资于人”的视角[J].数量经济技术经济研究,2026,(3):229-252 | | 高等教育扩招政策与数字技能提升——基于“投资于人”的视角 | | Higher Education Expansion and the Development of Digital Skills: A Perspective of “Investing in People” | | | | DOI： | | 中文关键词: 数字技能 数字互补品 信息获得 教育 | | 英文关键词: Digital Skill Digital Complements Information Acquisition Education | | 基金项目: | | | 中文摘要: | | 数字技能是数字经济时代的关键人力资本，有效提升个体数字技能是落实“投资于人”战略部署的关键。本文从经济学视角归纳了数字技能的基本特征，认为数字互补品和信息是其必要投入要素，据此拓展了经典技能生产函数的分析框架，探讨了数字技能的形成机制。本文利用中国家庭数字经济调查数据库，借助高等教育扩招政策对个体受教育水平产生的外生冲击，识别了教育水平提升对个体数字技能的影响及其机制。结果表明，教育对数字技能提升具有显著的促进作用，且该促进作用主要源于教育能够显著增强个体对数字互补品（计算机、互联网、软件等）的可及性与信息可得性。异质性分析发现，教育对弱势劳动群体与低收入群体的技能提升效应更加显著。本文研究为理解数字技能的形成机制提供了初步理论框架，为提升全民数字技能、缓解经济社会不平等提供了新的政策工具。 | | 英文摘要: | | “Invest in People” is a central pillar of China’s development strategy and a fundamental requirement for promoting high-quality development. As digital technologies increasingly permeate economic and social life, digital skills have emerged as a critical form of human capital shaping individuals’ and households’ productivity, quality of life, and overall welfare. Beyond enabling access to information and services, digital skills determine how effectively individuals participate in and benefit from the digital economy, and from a macro perspective, they influence patterns of economic growth and inequality. Thus, understanding the characteristics of digital skills and their determinants is critical for both researchers and policymakers. This study focuses on education as a key driver of digital skill acquisition and provides further insights into the development of digital skills. Using nationally representative microdata from the China Household Digital Economy Database, this study first documents the basic facts and salient features of digital skills among Chinese residents.Digital skills are defined as the abilities required to use digital devices, networks, and applications to acquire, consume, and create digital content, thereby increasing individual utility and facilitating personal development. Based on their economic functions, these skills are categorized into social, consumption, and production. This study constructs a comprehensive digital skills index based on individuals’ proficiency across 22 specific digital application scenarios.The descriptive analysis reveals three core patterns. First, while overall digital skill levels are relatively high, production digital skills are comparatively underdeveloped. Second, digital skill levels increase monotonically with educational attainment, with the most significant trend observed for production skills. Third, individuals with higher education not only possess higher digital skills but also gain access to digital devices earlier. These patterns imply that education may play a critical role in shaping economically productive digital capabilities.To identify causality, this study exploits the 1999 higher education expansion policy in China as a natural experiment. This policy sharply increased college enrollment opportunities for cohorts born around 1980, generating exogenous variation in educational attainment. By implementing a fuzzy regression discontinuity design with birth year as the running variable, the study estimates the causal impact of higher education on individual digital skills. The results reveal that access to higher education significantly increases digital skill levels, providing robust causal support for the human capital interpretation of education in the digital economy.The study further investigates the mechanisms through which education promotes digital skill formation by extending the skill production function framework. It conceptualizes digital skills as both complement-dependent and information-intensive human capital. Two primary channels are identified and empirically examined. The first is the digital complement effect, whereby education improves access to complementary resources, such as internet services, smart devices, software, and digital applications. These complements expand the feasible set of digital activities and lower the effective cost of skill acquisition, thereby reinforcing the productivity of educational investment. The second is the information effect, whereby education enhances individuals’ cognitive abilities, information processing capacity, and understanding of the digital economy, thereby reducing learning costs and increasing the efficiency of digital skill accumulation. Empirical tests confirm the existence of both channels, providing micro-level evidence on how to develop digital skills.Finally, the study conducts heterogeneity analysis to explore distributional implications. The positive impact of education on digital skills is significantly stronger for disadvantaged groups in the labor market, including residents in central and western regions, rural populations, females, and low-income households. These results indicate that education-driven digital skill accumulation may help narrow digital and economic disparities, highlighting the equalizing potential of the digital economy when supported by inclusive educational policies.This study contributes to the literature in three main ways. First, it documents stylized facts on residents’ digital skills in China, distills their core characteristics, and extends the skill production function to provide a unified framework for understanding digital skill formation. Second, the study exploits exogenous policy shocks to address signaling concerns, identifies the effect of education on digital skills, and uncovers two mechanisms—greater access to digital complements and improved information endowments—that offer micro-level evidence and actionable pathways for upgrading individuals’ digital skills. Third, from a policy perspective, the findings reveal that high-quality education both fosters digital-era human capital accumulation and mitigates digital inequality, simultaneously functioning as a “catalyst” and an “equalizer” for digital skill development.The findings have important policy implications. As governments worldwide seek to promote digital transformation while addressing rising inequality, expanding access to high-quality education, particularly for disadvantaged groups, can be an effective strategy to enhance digital skills and narrow the digital divide. Moreover, complementary policies that reduce the cost of accessing digital technologies and increase returns to digital skills can further amplify the benefits of education. Together, these measures can foster more inclusive participation in the digital economy and ensure that the gains from digitalization are more broadly shared across society. | | 查看全文 相关附件： 下载数据代码附录 |
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