Federico R. León
Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola
Few explanations of geography’s influence on economic and cognitive development have been proposed. This study was purported to test three development models based on absolute latitude (AL) and additionally addressed altitude above sea level and the particular case of the Amazonía in Peru. Information on 1468 Peruvian districts was obtained from Peru’s Ministry of Education and United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report. The data were best fitted by ad hoc path models which combined AL with altitude and took different forms in the Amazonía and remainder of Peru. AL + altitude explained education + health, and income, through cognitive ability in the Amazonía. In the remainder of Peru, AL – altitude explained income and cognitive ability through education + health, with an additional, weak but significant, direct AL → cognitive ability path. The findings add to evidence suggesting the mediation of UV radiation in the relationship between latitude and development.
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Copyright © 2019 Federico R. León
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