Análisis de la evolución de la matrícula de la licenciatura en economía en México, 1974-2004

In this paper we carry out a first analysis of the behavior and determinants of the enrollment in the economics undergraduate program in Mexico for the years 1974-2004. Some characteristics of this behavior reflect trends in higher education in our country since the end of the 1970s, such as the significant creation of new institutions in the interior, the still important concentration of students in the country's capital, and the growing participation of women in higher education. Nonetheless, their participation relative to the nation's total has been decreasing. In particular, our analysis confirms the crowding-out effect fueled by the expansion of substitutive degrees, traditional ones like business administration, or new ones in areas of commerce and finance. The economic cycle also helps to explain the behavior of first-year enrollment by stimulating interest in economic matters as well as by creating a favorable future labor-market perception among young adults due to a larger role of the State in the economy.