This study contains data on the Urban Quality of Life (UqoL) Index. Included is a discussion of what factors determine the UqoL index, the construction and benchmarks as well as the approaches taken in determining the index.

This paper proposes a methodology to resolve the problems that result from using a combination of objective and subjective information in evaluating urban quality of life. The paper further suggests techniques to identify and rank issues of potential importance for urban dwellers. In order to...

A growing number of cities around the world have established systems for monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective information with subjective opinions and cover a wide variety of topics. This book assesses a method that takes advantage of both types of...

Healthcare services are more widespread in Latin America and the Caribbean today than 50 years ago, yet this availability is not necessarily reflected in popular perceptions. This study documents the expansion of healthcare services in the region in terms of medically-trained professionals,...

This study examines the impact of Superémonos, a conditional transfer program in Costa Rica, which provides poor families with a subsidy for the purchase of food conditional upon children regularly attending school. Using three different empirical techniques -simple comparison of mean outcomes,...

This paper presents evidence on the relationship between economic shocks to relative male wages and changes in household consumption in Mexico during the 1990s, which is a period characterized by high volatility. In addition to performing this type of analysis for Mexico for the first time, the...

Following the 1994 financial crisis, the rate of saving of the Mexican economy fell from 21.7 percent to 19.8 percent of GDP. The decline was associated with a reduction in the rate of external saving from 6.9 to 0.5 percent between 1994 and 1995. The overall reduction was not more dramatic...