Dynamic Effects of Education Investment on Sustainable Development Based on Comparative Empirical Research Between China and the United States
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. On Connotations of Sustainable Development
2.2. On the Impact of Education Investment on Sustainable Development
2.3. Summary
3. Theoretical Analysis
3.1. General Discussion on the Impact Mechanism of Education Investment on Sustainable Development
3.2. Impact Mechanism of Education Investment on Economic Sustainable Development
3.3. Impact Mechanism of Education Investment on Social Sustainable Development
3.4. Impact Mechanism of Education Investment on Ecological Sustainable Development
4. Research Design
4.1. General Design
4.2. Model Construction
4.3. Indicator Selection and Data Sources
5. Empirical Analysis and Results Discussion
5.1. Empirical Analysis
- (1)
- Table 2 reveals the following findings:
- (a)
- Impact of Lagged Chinese Educational Investment
- (b)
- Impact of Lagged American Educational Investment
- (2)
- Figure 2a,b illustrate the following:
5.2. Discussion Between Findings in This Study and Previous Studies
- (1)
- Impact on Economic Sustainable Development
- (2)
- Influence on Social Sustainable Development
- (3)
- Effect on Ecological Sustainable Development
5.3. Limitations
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
6.1. Research Conclusions
- (a)
- Theoretically, sustainable development is a sophisticated and dynamic process characterized by a three-dimensional connotation structure encompassing economic, social, and ecological dimensions. Education investment, by enhancing educational capacity and delivering high-quality education services, can positively influence human capital accumulation. This, in turn, drives economic sustainable development. It also promotes social justice, which is the cornerstone of social sustainable development, and contributes to carbon emission reduction, facilitating ecological sustainable development.
- (b)
- Empirical studies provide partial support for the theoretical hypothesis. Specifically, the VAR regression results and impulse response curves of China and the United States corroborate the theoretical perspective that the impact of educational investment on sustainable development is a dynamic process. The direction and strength of the effect of educational investment on sustainable development vary over time and depend on the development conditions of different countries. This is consistent with the need for a more comprehensive and dynamic analysis of the relationship between education investment and sustainable development, as previous studies have mainly focused on single- or two-dimensional aspects, and discussions on the dynamic impact are still insufficient.
- (c)
- In the context of China, the previous year’s educational investment can indeed promote current social equality. However, it slightly impedes talent capital accumulation, ecological development, and its own growth. This short-term deviation from the general theoretical expectation may be due to inefficiencies in resource allocation in the short run, as discussed in the comparison with previous studies. For example, new educational facilities may not be fully utilized immediately, or there could be a time lag in training and deploying qualified teachers. The educational investment from the year before last still promotes social equality. Additionally, it can increase per capita schooling years, thereby promoting talent capital accumulation. In terms of coefficients, its negative impact on ecological development is less severe compared to the previous year, and it inhibits the current growth of educational investment to a lesser extent. This shows a declining trend in the strength of its effects, indicating that over time, the positive impacts of education investment on economic and ecological aspects start to emerge, which is in line with the long-term positive relationship between education investment and sustainable development found in previous studies.
6.2. Recommendations
- (1)
- Broaden and Diversify Education Investment Sources
- (2)
- Targeted Allocation of Education Investment
- (3)
- Implement Dynamic Adjustment of Education Investment
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Indicator | Code | Data Sources | Average | Standard Deviation |
---|---|---|---|---|
China | ||||
The ratio of education funding to GDP | ei | Official website database of National Bureau of Statistics of China | 0.0488 | 0.0032 |
Schooling years per capita | lc | UNDP Human Development Report database | 7.6326 | 0.7034 |
Gini coefficient of disposable income per capita | se | Official website database of National Bureau of Statistics of China | 0.4754 | 0.0092 |
Carbon emission per capita | ce | The World Bank Databank | 6.2564 | 1.3643 |
The United States | ||||
The ratio of education funding to GDP | uei | The World Bank Databank | 0.0591 | 0.0067 |
Schooling years per capita | ulc | UNDP Human Development Report database | 13.5151 | 0.2232 |
Gini coefficient of disposable income per capita | use | The World Bank Databank | 0.4088 | 0.0050 |
Carbon emission per capita | uce | The World Bank Databank | 16.7827 | 1.9700 |
Explained Variable | Results Based on Chinese Data | Results Based on the United States’ Data | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Explanatory Variable | dei | dlc | dse | dce | duei | dulc | duse | duce | |
DEI (−1) | −0.45377 | −0.01684 | −0.03571 | 0.52884 | 0.271611 | −0.008 | −0.13939 | −0.05493 | |
[−1.55383] | [−0.20094] | [−0.27943] | [2.07067] | [0.66893] | [−0.91270] | [−2.77315] | [−0.29241] | ||
DEI (−2) | −0.33036 | 0.10166 | −0.0368 | 0.283974 | −0.31066 | 0.002568 | 0.004702 | −0.03079 | |
[−1.26468] | [1.35597] | [−0.32185] | [1.24303] | [−0.94986] | [0.36365] | [0.11614] | [−0.20347] | ||
DLC (−1) | 0.224503 | 0.678307 | −0.50467 | −0.92245 | 16.82513 | 0.369055 | −2.52884 | −4.26985 | |
[0.19113] | [2.01211] | [−0.98171] | [−0.89799] | [0.97355] | [0.98898] | [−1.18207] | [−0.53404] | ||
DLC (−2) | −3.48881 | −0.41236 | 0.317742 | −1.57815 | −7.1577 | 0.249097 | 2.907098 | 4.491658 | |
[−1.88664] | [−0.77697] | [0.39260] | [−0.97584] | [−0.49426] | [0.79662] | [1.62168] | [0.67043] | ||
DSE (−1) | −1.33274 | −0.26719 | 0.039017 | 1.408128 | −6.33655 | −0.0039 | 0.746142 | 3.451227 | |
[−1.86240] | [−1.30097] | [0.12458] | [2.25002] | [−1.92707] | [−0.05495] | [1.83312] | [2.26872] | ||
DSE (−2) | −1.061994 | −0.151582 | −0.321017 | 0.730957 | 0.260544 | −0.08727 | −0.87572 | 0.765893 | |
[−1.46003] | [−0.72611] | [−1.00839] | [1.14907] | [0.11646] | [−1.80662] | [−3.16224] | [0.74001] | ||
DCE (−1) | −0.23986 | −0.06274 | −0.04171 | 0.388943 | −0.16326 | −0.00504 | 0.091278 | −0.56308 | |
[−0.63904] | [−0.58245] | [−0.25390] | [1.18489] | [−0.22544] | [−0.32216] | [1.01819] | [−1.68062] | ||
DCE (−2) | 0.145416 | 0.037773 | 0.043463 | −0.25508 | 1.193776 | −0.01193 | −0.51792 | −1.59133 | |
[0.53903] | [0.48786] | [0.36812] | [−1.08117] | [1.10301] | [−0.51032] | [−3.86581] | [−3.17818] | ||
C | 0.070539 | 0.011068 | 8.90 × 10−5 | 0.070201 | −0.00752 | 0.000246 | −0.01439 | −0.07596 | |
[1.79070] | [0.97899] | [0.00516] | [2.03776] | [−0.16044] | [0.24306] | [−2.48134] | [−3.50407] | ||
R-squared | 0.665892 | 0.713399 | 0.27278 | 0.838056 | 0.499583 | 0.750175 | 0.855958 | 0.706677 |
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Zhao, J.; Li, Q.; Hu, X. Dynamic Effects of Education Investment on Sustainable Development Based on Comparative Empirical Research Between China and the United States. Sustainability 2025, 17, 3068. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073068
Zhao J, Li Q, Hu X. Dynamic Effects of Education Investment on Sustainable Development Based on Comparative Empirical Research Between China and the United States. Sustainability. 2025; 17(7):3068. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073068
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhao, Junjing, Qi Li, and Xiaobing Hu. 2025. "Dynamic Effects of Education Investment on Sustainable Development Based on Comparative Empirical Research Between China and the United States" Sustainability 17, no. 7: 3068. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073068
APA StyleZhao, J., Li, Q., & Hu, X. (2025). Dynamic Effects of Education Investment on Sustainable Development Based on Comparative Empirical Research Between China and the United States. Sustainability, 17(7), 3068. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073068