Evaluating urban multidimensional inequalities in Peru from the capability approach

In this chapter, we evaluate multidimensional well-being disparities in urban areas in Peru, a middle-income country in one of the most unequal regions in the world: Latin America and the Caribbean. We rely on data from a specialized survey collected in this country in late 2018, which includes information on a broad set of non-monetary dimensions of human well-being. We use this data to specify, calibrate, and calculate an urban-specific measure of multidimensional well-being conceptually based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach. This measure comprises a set of 12 dimensions we operationalize using 30 indicators of well-being achievement. Our main results reveal that the proportion of women in a situation of well-being sufficiency is lower than that of men and that the capital city of Lima shows higher values of well-being sufficiency than other urban regions in the Coast, the Highlands, and the Amazonia. This pattern of disparity holds valid even if we introduce changes to the multidimensional well-being sufficiency threshold, which corresponds to the minimum number of achievements that a person should accomplish to live with an adequate level of well-being.