Abstract:
Since the late Nineties, the mining sector in Peru has been experiencing a protracted period of rapid
growth. This paper investigates local impacts of the mining boom on migration, on access to basic
services, on labour market and on occupational distribution across sectors. By applying propensity
score matching technique, mining and non-mining districts are compared. The results show that recent
mining expansion has encouraged migration inflows to mining districts and affected the sectoral
composition of the labor force in these areas. However, despite the great expectations and the new
institutional and legislative settings, the mining growth has not produced a multiplicative effect on
non-mining and non-agricultural activities and did not boost a process of economic diversification
towards non-primary sector. Finally, the analysis shows a significant heterogeneity in impacts on
labour opportunities and on access to basic services across rural and urban areas, and between districts
with a long history of mining exploitation and new mining areas.
