The New Economic Geography literature has experienced an impressive success in economic theory. At the same time, the empirical evidence about the forces and mechanisms emphasized by this literature is growing. Nevertheless, there is still much to be gained from empirical analysis. The main objective of this work is thus to help mind this gap by providing further evidence on the relevance of agglomeration forces for the distribution of economic activities. We address this task from an eclectic perspective using both descriptive and structural approaches. We also pay particular attention to plants' heterogeneity and its interaction with spatial externalities. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that pecuniary externalities stemming from final consumption and input-output linkages play an important role in location choice. Furthermore, while big plants are more sensitive to very localized externalities, small units display a stronger spatial correlation pattern and can be found more easily close to big consumers' markets.

The New Economic Geography literature has experienced an impressive success in economic theory. At the same time, the empirical evidence about the forces and mechanisms emphasized by this literature is growing. Nevertheless, there is still much to be gained from empirical analysis. The main objective of this work is thus to help mind this gap by providing further evidence on the relevance of agglomeration forces for the distribution of economic activities. We address this task from an eclectic perspective using both descriptive and structural approaches. We also pay particular attention to plants' heterogeneity and its interaction with spatial externalities. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that pecuniary externalities stemming from final consumption and input-output linkages play an important role in location choice. Furthermore, while big plants are more sensitive to very localized externalities, small units display a stronger spatial correlation pattern and can be found more easily close to big consumers' markets.

La educación tiene un papel clave en la formación del capital humano, y claro esta su relación positiva con el nivel de ingresos para un individuo. Sin embargo, el efecto social de la educación, denominado en la literatura como las externalidades del capital humano, no presenta un consenso marcado sobre la significancia y magnitud del incremento promedio de la educación o el incremento en la participación de trabajadores cualificados en la fuerza laboral sobre los niveles de ingresos. En la presente investigación se busca identificar el impacto de las externalidades del capital humano sobre los salarios de los trabajadores para el caso peruano, tomando como base los conceptos teóricos e investigaciones empíricas sobre las externalidades pecuniarias. El trabajo permite verificar si realmente es viable y eficaz incentivar la inversión en educación para mejorar los niveles de capital humano en una localidad y así obtener una mejora en el nivel de salarios de toda la sociedad. Asimismo, al finalizar la estimación utilizando la base ENAHO para los años 2010, 2015 y 2020 se identifica que las externalidades del capital humano encontradas para el caso peruano tienen un impacto positivo sobre el nivel de ingresos de los trabajadores en una localidad determinada, pero en menor magnitud que los retornos privados de la educación. La estimación se realizó mediante el método de variables instrumentales de efectos fijos obteniendo un valor para las externalidades del capital humano equivalente a 14.5% y bajo efectos aleatorios un valor de 0.88%, lo cual significa que ante un incremento del 1% de la participación de mano de obra cualificada en la fuerza laboral los salarios de los trabajadores tenderán a incrementarse alrededor de 0.88% y 14.5%. / Education has an important role in human capital formation, and its positive relationship with wages individual levels. Nevertheless, the education social effects do not have a consensus about its significative and magnitude in increase the wages mean level. The investigation searches to identify the impact of human capital externalities on wages for the Peruvian case, based on theoretical concepts and empirical research on pecuniary externalities. Also, the research allows to verify whether it is really viable and effective try to encourage invest in education program to improve the human capital level in a region and the wage levels in society. In addition, after finishing the estimation using the ENAHO data 2010, 2015 and 2020, it is identified that human capital externalities found for the Peruvian case have a positive impact on the income level of workers in a given locality; however, this impact has a smaller magnitude than the private returns to education. The estimation was carried out using instrumental variables fixed effects model where the results show human capital externalities equal to 14.5% and with random effects this value is 0.88, which means that a 1% increase in the participation of skilled labor in the labor force, workers salary would increase by around 0.88% and 14.5%. / Trabajo de investigación