Especialización sectorial, capital humano e ingreso regional en Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract: The development of Ecuador measured by per capita income, showed increases in recent years, but unevenly distributed in the country. The objective of this research is to examine how the sector specialization and the level of human capital, influence in the regional differences of per capita income. The cross-sectional data used, correspond to the 221 cantons of Ecuador and they are collected from the Census of Population and Housing, Ecuador Central Bank and National Economic Census. By using spatial econometric techniques, it was found that a higher level of human capital, as measured by the average years of schooling of the population and the most productive specialization of the cantons in the tertiary sector, as measured by the coefficient of location, increase regional income. In addition, the interaction between regions allows that a canton revenues can be positively influenced by developments in neighboring regions. Therefore, the spatial patterns report consistent and unbiased estimators that MCO can not correct.