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Digging Deep: Resource Exploitation and Higher Education

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  • Balza, Lenin
  • De Los Rios, Camilo
  • Rivera, Nathaly M.

Abstract

Do resource-extraction booms crowd out postsecondary education? We explore this question by examining the higher education-related decisions of Chilean high school graduates during the 2000s commodities boom. We find mineral extraction increases a person's likelihood of enrolling in postsecondary technical education while reducing the likelihood of completing a four-year professional degree program. Importantly, effects are heterogeneous across economic backgrounds. The impact on college dropouts is primarily present among students that graduated from public high schools, which generally cater to low-income groups. Our findings show that natural resources may affect human capital accumulation differently across income groups in resource-rich economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Balza, Lenin & De Los Rios, Camilo & Rivera, Nathaly M., 2022. "Digging Deep: Resource Exploitation and Higher Education," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12451, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:12451
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004495
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Resource Curse; ResourceBooms; Education; Latin America; Chile;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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