Panel data approach: macroeconomic variables and first enrollment in private higher education institutions in Colombia

Abstract

This paper investigates the macroeconomic determinants of first enrollment in private higher education institutions, as a dependent variable, for 21 Departments of Colombia plus the capital city of Bogotá from 2005 to 2020. The bases of the human capital theory were contrasted with the empirical evidence for the case studied, and the effect of currency devaluation represents a new contribution to the literature. We used the Prais-Winsten methodology with corrected standard errors and first-order autocorrelation correction to estimate the econometric model. The results suggest that favorable variations in GDP, wage expectations, and population positively impact the dependent variable. However, the devaluation of the Colombian peso against the US dollar, represented in the trm variable, has a negative effect, i.e., the devaluation of the peso would lead to a reduction in the dependent variable.