Multilevel factor models: Identification of three-level model parameters for the study of regional development in Argentina

Abstract

Based on a theoretical-social model which states that Communication and Information Technologies (CITs) infuence the human development, due to the impact they have on economic growth, this work explores the relationship between the social, economic and technological dimensions or constructs, in aprovince, Córdoba, of Argentina. Confirmatory common framework (GLLAMMs, Skrondal & Rabe-Hesketh, 2004) was performed considering three level modeling. This approach allowed us to identify some indicators that measure constructs and help characterize the level of development of our region using hierarchical information. Since the estimation method was based on full information maximum likelihood, we devoted special attention to the identifiability of the parameters. Two constructs to describe the socioeconomic and technological (SET) 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.