Abstract
The aim of this project was to estimate the costs to society of training a physician at either a public or private university in Colombia. Direct and indirect costs were estimated in 2016 Colombian pesos (average exchange rate 3051 COP per US dollar), as was the return on investment, expressed as net present value, return on investment, and internal rate of return. The time required to recover investing in studying medicine was also determined, and this was compared with the counterfactual of studying another academic program. A discount rate of 12% was used; a sensitivity analysis was performed with several alternative scenarios. In the baseline scenario, the total cost of training a physician in Colombia is US $80,972 at a private university and US $54, 972 at a public university (of which $14, 437 is contributed by the State in the latter case). The time to return of investment is 3 years 6 months for studying at a public university and 7 years 3 months for studying at a private university. In all scenarios, applying discount rates of 5%, 7.5%, and 12%, studying medicine presents a higher return than that obtained by studying other academic programs. The cost of training a medical doctor in Colombia is 70% higher than the cost of training other professionals, but returns are greater due to subsequent higher wages. Net returns are higher for graduates of public universities because their initial investment is smaller but their incomes are similar.
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