Volume 30, Issue 4 (Winter 2026)                   JEPR 2026, 30(4): 107-141 | Back to browse issues page

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Asgari H, Moridian A, Motallebi M. (2026). A Comparative Study of the Impact of Government Higher Education Expenditures and Economic Policy Uncertainty on Higher Education Indicators in Post-Revolutionary Development Programs. JEPR. 30(4), 107-141.
URL: http://eprj.ir/article-1-2272-en.html
1- Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economic, University of Ilam, Ilam, Iran. , heshmatolah.asgari@atu.ac.ir
2- Ph.D. Student of Economics, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
3- Ph.D. Student of Economics, Lorestan University, Lorestan, Iran.
Abstract:   (1480 Views)
As a public good, higher education is largely financed by governments, making its development highly dependent on public financial support. Under conditions of heightened economic uncertainty and constrained government budgetary resources, the level and effectiveness of public investment in higher education may be affected, particularly with respect to qualitative outcomes. This study examines the impact of government expenditures on both quantitative and qualitative indicators of higher education across development programs implemented after the Islamic Revolution, while accounting for economic policy uncertainty. To this end, a Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregression (TVP-VAR) model is employed. The results indicate that government expenditures, including both current spending and capital asset acquisition, have improved the selected higher education indicators—namely, the student-to-population ratio and the faculty-to-student ratio—across all post-revolutionary development programs. However, incorporating economic policy uncertainty into the analysis weakens these positive relationships. Furthermore, although government expenditures continue to exert a positive effect on the faculty-to-student ratio in the three most recent development programs, the magnitude of this effect has steadily declined, raising concerns regarding its future sustainability.
 
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: health, education, welfare economics
Received: Jan 27 2025 | Accepted: Nov 01 2025 | ePublished: Jun 30 2024

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