The impact of shadow education expenditures on fertility rates in South Korea

The acceleration of digital transformation has significantly enhanced information and communication technology (ICT) competence among Indonesian citizens, thereby strengthening the nation’s overall competitiveness. Despite this progress, there remains a need to understand the extent to which government education spending influences the improvement of ICT skills in both the short and long term. This study investigates the dynamic effects of education expenditure on ICT competence in Indonesia using provincial-level panel data sourced from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance, covering the period from 2015 to 2023. The analysis employs the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to capture both temporal and cross-sectional variations. The results reveal that, in the short term, government education spending has a negative effect on ICT competence, possibly due to implementation delays or inefficiencies in resource allocation. However, in the long term, education spending contributes positively and significantly to the enhancement of ICT competence, indicating the cumulative benefits of sustained investment in education. Furthermore, internet access is consistently found to have a positive impact on ICT competence, emphasizing the importance of digital infrastructure. These results imply that consistent and well-targeted education investments, particularly in digital literacy and infrastructure, are essential for sustaining long-term ICT competence and supporting Indonesia’s digital transformation agenda

Educational development is central to the social, economic, and political sustainability of nations. In Afghanistan, the education sector has faced persistent challenges and interruptions over the past century, producing significant consequences for both the country and the wider region. Despite the importance of household education expenditure in shaping educational outcomes, limited research has examined the broader socioeconomic determinants of such spending in Afghanistan. Existing studies have largely emphasized financial and demographic characteristics, leaving social and geographic factors underexplored.This study aims to investigates the determinants of household education expenditure in Afghanistan, focusing on the role of socioeconomic, geographic, and social factors. Using high-frequency household survey data from all provinces and applying logistic regression, the research identifies key drivers of the likelihood of household spending on education.Results reveal a nonlinear relationship between income and the probability of education expenditure, with the likelihood rising with income up to a threshold, then declining among the highest-income households. Asset ownership generally increases the odds of spending on education. Among expenditure categories, food, personal, and internet-related spending increase the likelihood of education expenditure, while transport expenditure reduces it. Regional disparities in education spending are high, and the type of dwelling, whether single, shared, or temporary housing, emerges as an important factor in explaining variation in household decisions. The findings highlight the need for targeted policy interventions to reduce regional inequalities and strengthen household investment in education. By emphasizing the influence of social and geographic factors alongside economic ones, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of education expenditure in Afghanistan’s complex socioeconomic context.

This research experimentally investigates the association between multidimensional risk factors and economic growth, quantified by GDP as a partial indicator of advancement towards economically relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research experimentally investigates the correlation between multidimensional risk variables and economic growth, quantified by GDP as a partial indicator of advancement towards economically relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Saudi Arabia, particularly in alignment with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030. This study utilizes annual data from 1990 to 2024 and employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to examine the short-run and long-run relationships between economic growth, as measured by GDP, and five key risk dimensions: governance effectiveness, financial development, environmental pressure, human capital, and oil price volatility, which act as proxies for risk dimensions. The main contribution of this study is the integration of these governance, financial, environmental, human capital, and oil price risk factors into a single ARDL framework for Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 2024, using GDP growth as a proxy for progress toward SDGs within the Saudi Vision 2030 context, addressing gaps in prior studies that focus on individual determinants. The empirical evidence indicates a long-term cointegration relationship among the variables. Our findings indicate that government effectiveness and investment in human capital are important positive factors associated with long-term economic growth, thereby validating the importance of institutional improvements and educational expenditures. In contrast, fluctuations in oil prices and environmental pressures are linked to adverse association, highlighting issues related to resource dependency and ecological degradation. Financial development exhibits a negative long-run association, indicating potential inefficiencies or diminishing returns in loan distribution. The study offers essential policy recommendations, such as expediting digital governance reforms, allocating financial resources to non-oil SMEs (SDG 8), aligning educational curricula with labor market demands, and implementing stricter environmental regulations to separate economic growth from emissions.

This study examines the long-term effects of economic and social factors affecting entrepreneurial activities across Türkiye’s NUTS1 regions between 2009 and 2022. Using the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) methodology, the relationships among regional GDP growth, income inequality, unemployment rates, public education expenditures and early school leaving rates are analyzed. The results show that GDP growth and income inequality have a positive impact on entrepreneurial activities, whereas unemployment rate and public education expenditures have negative effects. Early school leaving rate is found to have a limited but positive effect on entrepreneurship. It explicitly links entrepreneurship to broader socio-economic dimensions, highlighting how factors such as income inequality, education, and unemployment shape entrepreneurial dynamics across regions. The findings reveal that economic and social factors play a multidimensional role in shaping entrepreneurship dynamics. By incorporating regional disparities and linking entrepreneurship with broader socio-economic dimensions, the study aligns with international literature on entrepreneurship and economic development. It also provides practical recommendations for policymakers, such as developing strategies to promote income equality, strengthening regional financial support mechanisms, and integrating entrepreneurship education into the national curriculum to foster sustainable development. This comprehensive analysis offers both insight into Turkey’s regional entrepreneurship landscape and a framework for policymakers aiming to balance economic growth with social equity.

The main purpose of this study is to assess the effect of current public expenditure on education and human capital on economic growth in Central America between 1992 and 2021. In this context, data on education spending and human capital for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica were analyzed using a panel data approach with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors. The time series were primarily obtained from the online databases of the World Bank, UNESCO, and national public sources. The results show a positive and significant effect of current education expenditure and human capital formation on the economic growth of Central America. This research provides empirical evidence on a topic that has been scarcely examined in the Central American regional context, and its findings constitute relevant input for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

The nexus between educational, research and development expenditures and economic growth represents a salient principal point within the practical realm of empirical investigations. This paper focuses on the long- and short-run relationship between government expenditure in education, research and development and economic growth in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from 1998-2021. Using panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models, the result confirms that government education expenditure (EDE) is positively associated with economic growth in the long run as well as in the short run. Furthermore, research and development (R & D) is positively significant in the long run; however, it is insignificant in the short run with economic growth. The policy implications of the result highlight the importance of sustained investment in education, research and development to advance economic growth. Policymakers should adopt a balanced and forward-looking approach, recognising the significance of these investments for both short-term and long-term economic prosperity.

In this paper, I adopt a data-driven approach to analyze global life expectancy. Using World Bank data from 174 countries covering the period 2001–2019, I model economic, social, and health factors that may predict a nation’s life expectancy. I first performed data preprocessing, which included median imputation for missing values, and then tested several regression models, as well as Random Forest, Boosting, and Decision Tree models. The Random Forest Regressor exhibited the best predictive performance and stability, as it can capture both non-linear and multi-level relationships between income and region. Feature importance analysis showed that undernourishment, communicable diseases, and healthcare expenditure had the most significant impacts on life expectancy, while education expenditure and injury had the least. These results support the view that income alone cannot guarantee population health; instead, investments in health infrastructure and access to basic resources are key to extending overall life expectancy.

ABSTRACT This study empirically tested the impact of digital literacy on wage income based on the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2022. The results show that digital literacy improves wage income. Mechanism analysis revealed that digital literacy improves individuals’ wage income by improving job matching and promoting job development. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the wage-improving effect of digital literacy is statistically significant in non-government sectors and technology-intensive industries and is more pronounced in regions with lower unemployment rates, higher public service expenditures, and higher educational expenditures.

ABSTRACT This study explores the poverty driven factors in the case of women-headed households at regional level in Pakistan using a binary logit model. The data for the study were collected from the district Bhakkar (Pakistan) and grounded on a self-structured and self-administrative questionnaire. The results of the study explain that education, job experience, family size, and health expenditures have negative and significant impacts on the likelihood of poverty among women-headed households. The age of the respondent is also positively related to poverty in this case. Based upon the results of the study, policy makers may better manage women’s employment and education, especially in the remote areas of Pakistan, to reduce women’s poverty. Further, it is recommended that the government provide funds to families to educate their children.

From Chalk to Code: Asymmetric Nexus Between Artificial Intelligence and Educational Expenditures

International Perspectives on the Covariation Among Adolescent Risk Behaviors.

Bridging the gap: How cultural interventions boost rural educational expenditure

According to the United Nations, the first goal to attain by 2030 is to "End poverty in all its forms everywhere," which serves as the motivation for this study. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of FDI inflows over poverty by undertaking several other economic and institutional variables. The study employs panel data for Indian states for the period 2000-2019. The empirical evidences are based on panel data analysis methods. Principal component analysis has also been employed for several institutional environment indicators in order to examine the holistic view for the analysis. The independent variables taken in the study are control of corruption, education expenditure, FDI inflows, gross fixed capital formation, crime, infrastructure, workers engaged and industrial disputes. The study undertakes three models to find out the impact of various variables on poverty, growth and environment and confirms that FDI inflows, corruption control, education expenditure, andworkers engaged are important factors for poverty alleviation and for improving growth at state level in India. Also FDI plays an important role in improving health infrastructure at state level in India. This paper also suggests numerous policy recommendations to the policymakers, such as need for robust infrastructure, effective crimeand law enforcement at the state level in India is an essential step towards poverty reduction.

This research investigates how education levels, Special Autonomy Funds, and economic growth influence poverty in the districts and cities of Aceh Province. The study uses panel data from 2019 to 2024, obtained from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and the Directorate General of Fiscal Balance (DJPK), and applies panel regression analysis. Among the models tested, the Random Effects Model (REM) was identified as the most suitable approach. The results reveal that education expenditure and special autonomy funds significantly reduce poverty, whereas economic growth shows a positive but statistically insignificant effect. Combined analysis indicates that education levels, special autonomy funds, and economic growth together have a significant positive impact on poverty levels in Aceh’s districts and cities. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Aceh government enhance investments in education and improve education quality through effective use of special autonomy funds. Such measures are expected to foster economic growth and contribute to the reduction of poverty across the province

Background: Higher education is a key component of human-capital formation and is widely viewed as a driver of long-run economic growth. In Nepal, however, empirical evidence on the macroeconomic contribution of higher education remains limited, particularly over an extended period marked by political transition, federal restructuring, and changing development priorities. This study examines whether public investment and enrolment expansion in higher education have translated into sustained economic growth, while accounting for persistent concerns related to skill mismatch and institutional effectiveness. Methods: The study utilised annual time-series data for the period 1990-2024. Government expenditure on higher education (as a share of total education budget) and tertiary enrolment rates were employed as proxies for advanced human-capital investment. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds-testing approach was applied to examine long-run relationships and short-run dynamics between higher education variables and real GDP growth. Standard diagnostic and stability tests were conducted to ensure model validity. Results: The findings revealed a positive and statistically significant long-run relationship between higher education expenditure and economic growth. Tertiary enrolment also exhibited a positive association with growth, although its impact appeared conditional on institutional quality and labour-market alignment. Short-run effects were presented but comparatively weaker, reflecting the gradual nature of human capital accumulation. Conclusion: The results indicate that enrolment expansion alone is insufficient to maximise higher education’s growth contribution. Policy effectiveness depends on quality-enhancing investment, institutional efficiency, and improved alignment between graduate skills and economic demand. Novelty: This study provides one of the longest ARDL-based analyses of higher education and economic growth in Nepal, integrating both expenditure and enrolment within a single dynamic framework and offering policy-relevant insights beyond access-focused approaches.

This study examines the impact of migrant remittances on human capital development in Nigeria between 1990 and 2024, using the Human Development Index (HDI) as the primary metric of socio-economic progress. Specifically, it investigates the effects of personal remittances, institutional quality, and government education and health expenditure on HDI. Secondary time-series data were obtained from the World Development Indicators, the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, and the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The study employed the Engel-Granger cointegration technique and an Error Correction Model (ECM) to estimate both short-run dynamics and the long-run equilibrium relationship. Empirical findings revealed that remittance inflows and institutional quality have positive but statistically insignificant short-run effects on HDI. In contrast, government expenditure on education and health demonstrated a strong positive and significant short-run impact. The study confirms a significant long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, with an error correction mechanism indicating that approximately 19% of short-run deviations are corrected annually. It concludes that while remittances are substantial, their translation into tangible human development is not immediate, and effective government social spending is critical for short-term gains, with institutional quality providing the essential long-run framework. The study therefore recommends policies to channel remittances into productive human capital investments, enhance the efficiency of public social expenditure, and implement foundational governance reforms to strengthen institutional quality.

Education is a crucial driver of human capital, economic growth, and social development, transmitting cultural values and shaping societal attitudes. Recognized as a quasi-public good, education requires both public and private funding, with the public sector ensuring the provision of its broad societal benefits. However, efficient allocation and utilization of education budgets are pivotal, as expenditure alone does not guarantee improved outcomes. This study conducts a comparative analysis of Türkiye’s education expenditures, evaluating total spending, budget shares, and GDP proportions against the top ten OECD countries that performed best in the 2022 PISA rankings. The findings reveal that Türkiye’s education spending remains below the OECD average, with particularly low preschool participation rates. Despite this, Türkiye performs relatively well in science compared to its expenditure level, indicating efficiency gains in certain areas. By focusing not only on spending levels but also on efficiency in resource use, the study contributes to understanding how financial and structural factors jointly influence educational performance. The paper concludes with targeted policy implications—emphasizing expansion of preschool education, improved retention at the upper-secondary level, and enhanced public investment efficiency—to strengthen long-term educational outcomes and equity in Türkiye.

In an era where economies increasingly rely on knowledge and innovation, sustaining long-term growth depends on understanding how education drives productivity beyond conventional measures. Yet, existing studies on the education–growth nexus remain fragmented, often focusing narrowly on schooling attainment while overlooking the complementary roles of lifelong learning and public investment in human capital. Addressing this critical gap, the present study adopts a multidimensional approach to evaluate how educational attainment, adult learning participation, and government expenditure on education collectively shape economic performance across the 27 European Union (EU) member states. Drawing on an unbalanced Eurostat panel dataset (2013–2022), the study employs a fixed-effects regression model with White cross-section robust standard errors to account for heteroskedasticity and serial correlation. The empirical results reveal that all three educational dimensions exert positive and statistically significant effects on GDP, with government educational expenditure emerging as the most influential driver, followed by adult learning participation, underscoring the transformative role of continuous skill renewal in dynamic labor markets. These findings advance Human Capital Theory by framing education not merely as an individual asset but as an interactive, systemic driver of national productivity and resilience. The study offers actionable insights for policymakers, calling for integrated strategies that align formal education, lifelong learning systems, and sustained public investment to foster inclusive, knowledge-driven, and sustainable economic growth across the EU.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is deeply embedded in everyday social life, yet its officially recognized spatial distribution reflects both the independent influences of cultural traditions, development trajectories, and governance practices, and the complex interactions among them. Focusing on 494 national-level ICH items across ten categories in Jiangsu(J), Zhejiang(Z), and Shanghai(H), this study adopts a social-geographical perspective to examine both the spatio-temporal evolution and the driving mechanisms of ICH recognition in one of China’s most developed regions. After rigorous verification of point-based ICH locations, we combine kernel density estimation and the average nearest neighbor index to trace changes across five batches of national designation, and then employ the univariate and interaction detectors of the Geodetector model to assess the effects of 28 natural, socioeconomic, and cultural-institutional variables. The results show, first, that ICH exhibits significant clustering along river corridors and historical cultural belts, with a persistent high-density core in the Shanghai–southern Jiangsu–northern Zhejiang zone and a clear shift over time from highly concentrated to more dispersed and territorially balanced recognition. Second, human-environment factors—especially factors such as urban and rural income and consumption; residents’ education and cultural expenditures; and public education and cultural facilities—have far greater explanatory power than natural conditions, while different ICH categories embed distinctively in urban and rural socio-economic contexts. Third, bivariate interactions reveal that natural and macroeconomic “background” variables are strongly amplified when combined with demographic and cultural factors, whereas interactions among strong human variables show bivariate enhancement with diminishing marginal returns. In summary, these findings enrich international debates on the geography of ICH by clarifying how recognition processes align with regional development and social equity agendas, and they provide a quantitative basis for category-sensitive, place-based strategies that coordinate income policies, public cultural services, and the joint safeguarding of tangible and intangible heritage in both urban renewal and rural revitalization planning.