Local government expenditure on education and its effect on income inequality at the county level in Chile

In this paper we analyze the effect of per-capita education expenditure on the distribution of autonomous income among Chilean counties, where income inequality is measured through Gini and Theil indices, and the S80/S20 and S90/S10 ratios. The longitudinal study considers 307 Chilean counties in order to estimate a fractional response Probit model for Gini index and random-effects Tobit models for the remaining indicators of inequality. Main findings indicate that an increasing per-capita education expenditure would reduce the income inequality among Chilean counties. Moreover, the estimates show that the above negative effect is not immediate but it would take from 3 to 5 years in reducing income inequality at the county level. Finally, the evidence suggests that indigenous people in Chile would be exposed to a larger income inequality when the latter is quantified by Theil index.

• Autores: Gutiérrez-Garrido, Felipe M.; Acuña-Duarte, Andrés A.
• Fecha de publicación: 2020
• Institución: Universidad EAFIT
• Repositorio: Repositorio EAFIT
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repository.eafit.edu.co:10784/16095
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/10784/16095
• Palabra clave: D63; I24; O15; income inequality; education expenditure; fractional response; Tobit; desigualdad de ingresos; gasto público en educación; respuesta fraccional; Tobit
• License: Copyright © 2019 Felipe M. Gutiérrez-Garrido, Andrés A. Acuña-Duarte