Mobility Variables Limiting Access to Employment in Montevideo

Abstract

This research analyzes how high inequality and limited public policy in Latin America have allowed socioeconomic residential segregation (SRS) to produce an abysmal gap between neighborhoods. Active attributes are neighborhood-specific characteristics that perpetuate the outcome of SRS by deepening the economic condition of its residents. In marginalized neighborhoods, poor mobility is an active attribute that contributes to poverty by limiting access to quality formal employment. This paper analyzes for the city of Montevideo the relationship between mobility and employment as a strategy to overcome poverty. We apply descriptive statistics and a linear model estimated with Bayesian methods. The results show that travel time, public transport density and expenditure are related to higher levels of poverty. The findings are consistent with existing empirical evidence for other cities in the region. Public transport, in this case in Montevideo, does not contribute to reducing inequality as a result of the SRS.