Abstract

LEON MENDOZA, Juan Celestino. Human capital and regional poverty in Peru. Región y sociedad [online]. 2019, vol.31, e1058. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys2019/31/1058.

The aim of this article is to determine the influence of human capital on the evolution of regional monetary poverty in Peru. In the context of the human capital theory, it is postulated that accumulation of this capital, approximated by the education and health variables, contributed to reduce the extent of poverty through economic growth. For this purpose, econometric estimations were performed using the ordinary least squares method and the heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity and autocorrelation tests. The results show that for each additional year of schooling attained and for each additional year in life expectancy, the percentage of individuals living in poverty decreased by 8.7 and 3.1 points, respectively. The study, limited to the analysis of monetary poverty, found that human capital plays an important role in reducing regional poverty.

Keywords : poverty; monetary poverty; human capital; standard of living; life expectancy; Peru.