Abstract

The bounds testing (augmented autoregressive distributed lag, ARDL) technique to cointegration was used in this study to investigate the effect of household income and expenditure on tertiary school enrolment in Nigeria from 1970 to 2020. The model was employed to estimate the relationship between these three variables while also accounting for interactions with total education expenditure. When the dependent variable is tertiary school enrollment, the bounds tests show that the variables of interest are bound together in the long run. Tertiary education is widely regarded in Nigeria as a path to higher-paying jobs and a better quality of life, so some interesting observations were made. It was discovered that there is a significant negative relationship between GDP per capita, which is a proxy for household income. The findings also show that a household's consumption expenditure provides tertiary education enrollment power; an increase in a household's consumption expenditure increases the tertiary education enrollment ratio. When the variables deviate from their equilibrium values, the speed of adjustment to equilibrium is 128% within a year. The study suggests that the government establish more tertiary institutions and improve the reputation of existing ones by adequately funding them.

Key words: Household, income, expenditure, augmented autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL).