Effects of university graduation on multidimensional poverty risks in Japan

This study examined data obtained from a nationwide internet survey of Japan, which asked approximately 8,000 randomly selected respondents engaged as NTT Com Research Monitors (about 2.1 million in all). The study applied propensity score matching to estimate college graduation effects on poverty risk in Japan. Using a compensation approach, the study specifically examined poverty of two kinds: income poverty and interdependent multidimensional poverty (IMD poverty). Estimation results suggest that, after controlling for early childhood cultural capital variables from the home environment, men show adequate college degree effects on earnings and reduction of poverty risk. For women, decreased poverty risk was found for college graduates in terms of income poverty (household level), but no significant effect was found for either income poverty (individual level) or IMD poverty. Specialized knowledge acquired by women during college education might not be applied adequately in the Japanese labor market.