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Do Colombian students underestimate higher education returns?

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  • Luis Fernando Gamboa
  • Paul Andrés Rodríguez

Abstract

We analyze the determinants of subjective returns of higher education in Colombia. The information on expectations has been collected in categories, motivating the use of interval regression and an ordered probit approaches for modeling the relationship between beliefs and measures of ability, conditioning on individual, school and regional covariates. The results suggest that there are considerable differences in the size of the expected returns according to some population groups and a strong dominance of college against technical education. Gender gaps disappear in college education but it is found that girls tend to believe that professional wages are more concentrated into higher income categories than boys. Finally, it seems that Colombian students overestimate the pecuniary returns to education.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Fernando Gamboa & Paul Andrés Rodríguez, 2014. "Do Colombian students underestimate higher education returns?," Documentos de Trabajo 12050, Universidad del Rosario.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000092:012050
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    File URL: http://repository.urosario.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10336/11002/12050.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes & José D. Trujillo & Daniel Valderrama, 2015. "Are Public Libraries Improving Quality of Education? When the Provision of Public Goods is not Enough," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, December.
    2. Bonilla-Mejía, Leonardo & Bottan, Nicolas L. & Ham, Andrés, 2019. "Information policies and higher education choices experimental evidence from Colombia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Ilya Prakhov, 2019. "The Determinants Of Expected Returns On Higher Education In Russia: A Human Capital Theory Perspective," HSE Working papers WP BRP 50/EDU/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Melguizo, Tatiana & Sanchez, Fabio & Velasco, Tatiana, 2016. "Credit for Low-Income Students and Access to and Academic Performance in Higher Education in Colombia: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 61-77.
    5. Ilya Prakhov, 2017. "Determinants of Expected Return on Higher Education in Moscow," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 25-57.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Subjective expectations; ex-ante returns; Colombia; schooling choices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations

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