Quality of Life in Buenos Aires Neighborhoods: Hedonic Price Regressions and the Life Satisfaction Approach

This paper studies quality of life for urban neighborhoods and their determinants in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA). First, hedonic price regressions for residential prices are augmented with neighborhood characteristics, based on a real estate database with indicators on each property's distance to public facilities and amenities, and on a smaller survey with greater detail. Second, following recent developments in the field of happiness research, the document assesses the importance of different neighborhood characteristics on quality of life by interacting objective and subjective indicators. The results indicate a strong but not perfect correlation between real estate prices, income levels and neighborhood characteristics, suggesting scope for welfare-improving policy interventions.