Household Structure, Gender, and The Economic Determinants of a School Attendance in Argentina

Abstract

The relationship between education and the welfare of a society is a subject whose relevance exceeds the scope of a single discipline, and it is consequently studied by practically every social and human science. From an economic standpoint, the traditional Beckerian approach (Becker, 1965, 1981) to the decision to study sees education as an investment that allows an individual or family to increase its stock of human capital. Within this framework, the individual (or his/her family) faces the direct costs of acquiring education (fees, books, travel expenses, etc.) and accepting a temporary reduction in his/her potential earnings while he/she studies. Nevertheless, the decision to study is essentially a more complex phenomenon, influenced by other social, cultural and psychological features beyond the strictly economic ones.