Using multilevel factor models to study regional development through the socio-economic and information and communications technology dimensions

Córdoba

Congreso; X CONGRESO LATINOAMERICANO DE SOCIEDADES DE ESTADÍSTICA CÓRDOBA, ARGENTINA. 16 A 19 DE OCTUBRE 2012; 2012

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

This work is based on theoretical-social model which states that Com- munication and Information Technologies (CITs) influence the human de- velopment directly and indirectly, due to the impact they have on economic growth. The unit of analysis is the municipal district, defined as a part of a larger political subdivision called departments. The aim of this work is to explore the relationship between the social, economic and technological dimensions or constructs, in Córdoba. To do that, a confirmatory common framework (GLLAMMs, Skrondal & Rabe-Hesketh, 2004) was performed. This approach allowed us to identify some indicators that measure both constructs and help characterize the level of development of our region. First, a confirmatory factor analysis was proposed as a hypothetic procedure, to test the hypothesis about the relationship between indicators and factor constructs. Since the estimation method was based on full information maximum likelihood, we devoted special attention to the identifiability of the parameters in the proposed model. The successive modeling steps led us to decide on significant indicators in the conformation of the constructs. Two constructs to describe the socioeconomic and technological development at the district level were obtained. Due to correlation between the two latent variables at department level was near one, a new common factor model containing only one dimension was appropriate.