Faculty Sponsor: Professor César Castillo-García
Josh Klein
Josh Klein is a rising junior at Wesleyan University studying Economics, Philosophy, and Data Analysis. Josh is from Los Angeles, California, and is a research assistant for Professor César Jeanpierre Castillo-García, helping with his project South American Brahmins: Top Wealth in Twentieth-Century Peru. In his free time, Josh enjoys skiing, surfing, hiking, playing water polo, listening to music, and cars.
Abstract: In the early twentieth century, Peru’s economic climate underwent a shift. The economic upper class, which held power in the country, became a more diverse group than ever before, with wealthy individuals from around the world immigrating and establishing themselves. Very little is understood about this period of economic history in Peru, despite it shaping Peru’s next century of economic landscape. This study investigates whether there is a relationship between the sex and nationality of property owners and their property values, using tax records. By digitizing 752 observations of data, a log-linear OLS regression was constructed using Stata. The model found no statistically significant relation. This result suggests that other traits of property owners probably had a stronger influence on property value. The study demonstrates the digitization of archival data alongside quantitative methods to enrich understanding of Peru’s economic history.
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