Using Spatial Statistics to Analyze Intra‐urban Inequalities and Public Intervention in São Paulo, Brazil.

Like many cities in developing countries, São Paulo, Brazil, is characterized by major intra-urban inequalities with respect to human development. The center-periphery spatial regimes are the most obvious spatial manifestation of this phenomenon. In this paper we apply confirmatory spatial data analysis to examine these inequalities and their relationship to public interventions. Using district-level data, we examine the relationship between public interventions and the level of human development, while controlling for population density, spatial heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation. Our results suggest that public interventions reinforce the existing differences between center and periphery. Specifically, public services and utilities and social programs are allocated more intensively in districts with higher human development levels. These findings call for a more careful consideration of distribution of societal resources and effectiveness of public programs and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]