学前教育财政投入对城乡收入差距的影响机制分析
Analysis of the Impact Mechanism of Financial Investment in Preschool Education on the Income Gap between Urban and Rural Areas

缩小城乡收入差距、突破城乡二元格局是我国实现社会主义现代化必须完成的目标。我国长期面临着城乡及区域收入差距较大的现实困境，而通过教育人力资本投资和培育能够显著缓解这一问题。基于2012至2022年我国学前教育改革深化的现实背景，本文评估了我国31个省市自治区在此期间学前教育财政投入对城乡收入差距的时空效应，并深挖其内在作用机制。结果显示，学前教育财政支出显著缩小了城乡收入差距，但这种效应存在明显的区域异质性。学前教育财政投入主要通过增加就业机会、延长劳动时长以及减少家庭支出这三条开源节流的途径来缩小城乡收入差距，这为实现共同富裕目标提供了坚实的现实依据。
Narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas and breaking through the urban-rural dual pattern are the goals that China must achieve in order to achieve socialist modernization. China has long faced the reality of significant income disparities between urban, rural, and regional areas, which can be significantly alleviated through investment and cultivation of educational human capital. Based on the practical background of deepening the reform of preschool education in China from 2012 to 2022, this article evaluates the spatiotemporal effects of financial investment in preschool education on the urban-rural income gap in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China during this period, and explores its underlying mechanisms. The results showed that the fiscal expenditure on preschool education significantly narrowed the urban-rural income gap, but this effect exhibited significant regional heterogeneity. The financial investment in preschool education mainly narrows the income gap between urban and rural areas through three channels of increasing employment opportunities, extending working hours, and reducing household expenses, which provides a solid practical basis for achieving the goal of common prosperity.