All of Scioteca
Communities & Collections By Issue Date Authors Titles Subjects Country / Region
Profiles
Our Authors
My Account
Login

Valuation of Public Amenities and Differences in Quality of Life among Latin American Cities

We use a life satisfaction approach for the valuation of public goods and amenities in Latin American cities. We apply a homogenous database of seventeen cities gathered by the Development Bank of Latin America CAF. Using the estimated monetary value for several public goods and neighborhood amenities we construct a city level quality of life index. We find that access to electricity, access to running water and security are the three largest valued urban characteristics in terms of life satisfaction and housing satisfaction. The monetary equivalent valuations represent more than duplicating the household per capita income. Lacking access to them has a tremendous impact on quality of life. We also show that although richer households have more access, public good and amenities are a source for reductions in quality of life disparities.

Abstract

Description

Subject

Ciudades | Investigación socioeconómica | Servicios públicos

País / Región

América Latina y el Caribe

URI

https://scioteca.caf.com/handle/123456789/979

Date

2016-11

Cite from this publication

Collections

6.1 Documentos de trabajo en investigación socioeconómica

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By

Creative Commons license

CC-BY-NC
Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as CC-BY-NC
Thumbnail Image

Files

Arrosa & Gandelman (2016).pdf (1.69 MB)

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

CAF

Related Items

Thumbnail Image
Latin America in the global economy. Advancing market access

Given its commitment to the design and execution of a renewed development agenda for Latin America, CAF supports the region in its objective of achieving...

Thumbnail Image
RED 2010: Local development: towards a new protagonism of cities and regions (chapter one)

The analysis presented throughout this publication suggest that a successful local development strategy should be comprehensive, that is, it should act upon all of the...

Thumbnail Image
Women move safely

Urban mobility is essential for those who live in cities. Transport infrastructures and services are an essential means of improving people’s well-being, facilitating their access...

Thumbnail Image
Improving food security through community participation: results from a randomized field experiment in rural Nicaragua

This paper evaluates a community based development program designed to promote climate-smart agriculture and improve food security in rural Nicaragua. Using a within-community randomized controlled...

Thumbnail Image
Urban mobility for more and better opportunities

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, with 81% of its population residing in urban zones.1,a...

Thumbnail Image
RED 2016. More Skills for Work and Life: The contributions of Families, Schools, Jobs, and the Social Environment

Skills are the mainstay of human capital. They are the capabilities that a person has to effectively solve different problems. Skills include not only knowledge...