Socioeconomic Well-Being in the Face of Commodity Price Shocks: Evidence from Chile
利用智利2000-2017年数据，评估金属矿价格超级周期对当地居民工资、失业、教育和健康的影响，发现矿业冲击提高了工资和降低了失业率，尤其对男性和年轻人影响显著，但对健康无显著影响。
This paper evaluates the local effects of an economic shock, namely, the metal mining price supercycle, on individuals’ socioeconomic well-being in Chilean municipalities. The empirical approach is based on the differential exposure of municipalities to the shock and the world prices of minerals. I use the Chilean National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey for the period 2000–2017. The paper focuses on three dimensions of socioeconomic well-being: economic well-being (wages and unemployment), human capital (schooling and the ability to read and write), and health (good health and self-assessed). The mining sector is composed predominantly of young individuals and males, therefore, I also analyze the observed heterogeneity by performing estimations focusing on youth and gender. I find that the mining price shock affects economic-related indicators such as wages and unemployment. The shock increases wages and reduces unemployment rates in mining municipalities compared to nonmining municipalities. The reduction in unemployment rates is concentrated among males. Moreover, schooling is positively affected, especially for young individuals. The shock has no significant effect on health and the estimates are precise enough to rule out large effects of the mining boom on health.