Evaluación de impacto y análisis costo beneficio de los programas de formación de capital intelectual de Colciencias: Jóvenes Investigadores y Becas de Doctorados

Abstract

This paper presents the evaluation of the main intellectual capital formation programs of Colciencias: Jovenes Investigadores and becas Doctorales. In this research we use two methods of evaluation, a propensity score matching technique (PSM) and a cost benefit analysis (CBA), the former evaluates the impact of the program and the later quantifies the social return of each program. We used databases with socio-economic characteristics of people who applied to the scholarships, wage information from Planilla Integrada de Liquidación (PILA), CvLAC and GrupLAC databases, and the approved financial credits for the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The results indicate that people who won doctoral scholarships, in average, earn higher wages, contribute for more time into the year to the social security system, publish more papers and receive more financial credits than people who did not won the scholarships. Regarding to Jovenes Investigadores scholarship, we only found impacts on the number of papers published by those research groups which employ the beneficiaries. Finally, the CBA results indicate that doctoral scholarships generate social benefits as its net present value is positive. The social benefits provided by the Jóvenes Investigadores program, however, are subordinated to the decision to continue doctoral studies in the future.