Macroeconomic determinants of educational attainment in Bangladesh

The objective of this study is to examine the macroeconomic determinants of educational attainment in Bangladesh using the Cointegration, Error Correction Model (ECM), and Granger Causality test by employing time series annual data between 1978 and 2019. Educational attainment is vital to human capital accumulation, which in turn augments economic growth and development, and enhances the standard of living of a nation. Bangladesh's economy has been showing unprecedented growth with an average annual rate of above 6% over the last two and a half decades. Also, the country has made remarkable gains in educational attainment, especially in female secondary school enrolment to gross enrolment, which increased from a mere 14% in 1990 to 86% in 2021. Thus, this study investigates whether per capita GDP, government expenditure on education, remittance income, and labor force participation have been impacting the educational attainment of Bangladesh. Results of the study suggest a positive long-run relationship for both female and male secondary educational attainment and GDP per capita, remittances flow, and government expenditure on education. Although increased labor force participation indicates an ambiguous outcome on educational attainment, however, it is intuitive that education is the key factor in enhancing skilled labor force development and participation, and, thus, has a higher contribution to economic growth and development. Therefore, public policies directed to increased government expenditure on education, encouragement to funnel more private remittances' income to education, and incentivizing more skilled labor force participation would enhance the long-run growth and prosperity of the country further.