The education investment dimension of international personal remittances in Colombia

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between personal international remittances received and gross enrolment ratio in Colombia. There are three hypotheses explaining the relationship between personal international remittances and education (human capital development). These are (1) remittances-led education hypothesis, (2) education-led remittances hypothesis and (3) neutrality hypothesis that says there is no relationship at all between these two variables. Although majority of the empirical studies support the remittances-led education hypothesis, the subject is still attracting contradicting findings and not yet conclusive. It is on the backdrop of such lack of consensus in the literature that the author investigated the relationship between personal remittances received and gross enrolment ratio primary and secondary (%) in Colombia. The study used the auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL) bounds co-integration testing technique with annual time series data ranging between 1978 and 2010 to determine the existence of a long run relationship between personal remittances and education in Colombia. The ARDL F-bounds co-integration test revealed that personal remittances received and gross enrolment ratio for both primary and secondary schools in Colombia are not co-integrated or they do not have any long run relationship, thus supporting the neutrality hypothesis. This conclusion was arrived at using either personal remittances or gross enrolment ratio as a dependent variable. These results imply that personal remittances received in Colombia were directed more towards consumption and not invested in education. The study therefore urges the Colombian authorities to concientise the recipients of the personal remittances to invest in the children's education rather than spending the remittances on consumption purposes.