Exctractive Industries and Local Development in the Peruvian Highlands

During the last decade, the mining sector in Peru has been experiencing sustained growth. Using Census, administrative, nationally and regionally representative data we compare districts in the Peruvian Highlands with a recent mining history with suitable counterfactuals. We find that the new mining activities attract migration inflows, and have some positive effects over educational indicators. The study also shows that districts which lower level of corporate social expenditure have on average smaller impacts. However, the local potential welfare effect of the mining boom is largely untapped and the role of corporate social responsibility for its full materialization is still limited.