Credential Inflation : Development of Take-Away Delivery and College Wage Premium

Since smartphones became ubiquitous, online grocery and food purchases through digital platform have steadily increased in China. This study provides some of the first empirical evidence on the side effects of take-away delivery development on devaluing college wage premium. I make estimations based on city and individual levels combining the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) 2008, CHIP2013, CHIP2018 survey data and take-away delivery sites data. At the city level, Oaxaca-Blinder (O-B) decomposition method is employed to construct wage premium index of high-educated and low-educated labors. At the individual level, I analyze the change in wages of labors with and without college experience. From 2008, the rapid setting up of take-away delivery sites has resulted in degeneration of wage premium for higher education. For every 1% increment in the cumulative number ratio of take-away delivery sites, the annual wages of low-educated labors without college experience increase 2.81%, while high-educated groups have no significant or relatively little change. In addition, digital growth, market size, spatial accessibility and gig economy have moderating effects on the above results. As for further impact, individual choice of giving up education triggered by take-away is the catalyst for credential inflation