The External Social and Economic Benefits of Higher Education: Empirical Evidence from Worldwide Data

This paper analyzes the effects of enrollment rates in higher education on its external social and economic benefits across countries globally since the 1960s. Global panel data regressions over time are used. The effects of enrollment rates in higher education have a multitude of benefits to society. Highly statistically significant effects are found, such as reducing poverty rates, infant mortality rates, and fertility rates. Enrollment rates in higher education augment political rights (i.e. democratization), as well as R&D expenditures. Equivalent regressions for sample splits of developed countries and less developed countries separately indicate similar results.