Over the last 20 years, there has been a rapid expansion of gold mining in Colombia. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the impacts of this boom on local socioeconomic and environmental conditions (deforestation). In particular, we study the impact of the change in the mining royalties regime, on the local development path. The proposed analysis is based on secondary data over 1122 Colombia municipalities, by using spatial econometric and qualitative techniques. Our identification strategy considers exogenous variation in gold mining potential given by geographical and environmental factors. The use of spatial correlation allows estimating the spillover effects on neighboring units. The research generates a novel data set that integrates panel data information on geographical, socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the Colombian municipalities over a 20-year period. It is expected to contribute to the international discussion on the relationship between mining and development, and provide insights for mining policy.
Keywords: mining royalties; local development; deforestation; spatial analysis.
This project was approved in 2021.
