Inequality in Latin America: Breaking with History? / Edition 1

by Francisco Ferreira, David de Ferranti, Guillermo E. Perry, Michael Walton

Overview

With the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean has been one of the regions of the world with the greatest inequality. 'Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean' explores why the region suffers from such persistent inequality, identifies how it hampers development, and suggests ways to achieve greater equity in the distribution of wealth, incomes and opportunities. The study draws on data from 20 countries based on household surveys covering 3.6 million people, and reviews extensive economic, sociological and political science studies on inequality in Latin America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821356654
Publisher:	World Bank Publications
Publication date:	02/01/2004
Series:	World Bank Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Summary	1
Chapter 1	Introduction: Motivation and Conceptual Framework	17
1.1	A conceptual framework	18
1.2	The consequences of high inequality	24
Part I	The Nature of Inequality in Latin America	33
Chapter 2	Different Lives: Inequality in Latin America	35
2.1	Some conceptual issues	35
2.2	Income inequality and beyond	37
2.3	Measurement-related issues and data limitations	48
2.4	Inequality in Latin America in perspective	53
2.5	Looking inside household income	57
2.6	Inequality beyond income	66
2.7	Conclusions	71
Chapter 3	Group-Based Inequalities: The Roles of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender	77
3.1	Who are the people of Latin America?	78
3.2	Inequality among individuals during the lifecycle	84
3.3	Would income inequality decline if returns to human capital were more equal?	96
3.4	Conclusions	104
Part II	The Determinants of Inequality in Latin America	107
Chapter 4	Historical Roots of Inequality in Latin America	109
4.1	Factor endowments, inequality, and institutions	109
4.2	The persistence of inequality: The colonial period	112
4.3	The persistence of inequality: Post-independence	112
4.4	The 20th century	120
4.5	The 21st century and beyond	122
Chapter 5	State-Society Interactions as Sources of Persistence and Change in Inequality	123
5.1	Political and social structures as forces for the reproduction of inequality	125
5.2	The potential for equalizing political and social change	134
5.3	Conclusions	145
Chapter 6	Economic Mechanisms for the Persistence of High Inequality in Latin America	149
6.1	Asset distributions: Education and land	151
6.2	Job match quality	157
6.3	Remuneration in the labor markets	161
6.4	Household formation	165
6.5	Conclusions	173
Part III	Policies for Lower Inequality	175
Chapter 7	Policies on Assets and Services	177
7.1	Education	177
7.2	Property rights, land, and housing	189
7.3	Infrastructure services and the distributional impact of privatization	204
7.4	Conclusions	215
Chapter 8	Policies on Markets and Institutions	217
8.1	Markets and inequality	217
8.2	Labor market policies and inequality	224
8.3	Inequality and macroeconomic crises	227
8.4	Conclusions	243
Chapter 9	Taxation, Public Expenditures, and Transfers	247
9.1	Taxes and distribution	248
9.2	Public social spending and distribution	257
9.3	Cash transfers and distribution	268
9.4	Conclusions	280
	Statistical Appendix	285
	Bibliography	351
	Boxes
Chapter 1
1.1	Measuring inequality of opportunities in Brazil	20
Chapter 2
2.1	Social class	46
2.2	Mobility in Latin America: What little is known?	51
2.3	Some simple decompositions	63
2.4	Social capital and trust	66
2.5	Disability and distribution	70
Chapter 3
3.1	Distribution of the population of the Americas: An historical evolution	79
3.2	Todos Contamos: National census and social inclusion	80
3.3	The challenge of racial, ethnic, and gender identification and measurement	82
3.4	What if we do hold "all else constant?"	85
3.5	Women's other job: Housework	90
3.6	Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methodology	94
3.7	Econometric methodology	98
Chapter 5
5.1	Racial inequality and social spending: Evidence from the United States and Europe	128
5.2	Clientelism and the underprovision of public services in the Dominican Republic	131
5.3	Are there political and social reasons for the contrast between Latin America and East Asia?	133
5.4	Political agency and the potential for redistributive strategy in rich countries: Lessons from the OECD	135
5.5	Increased equity through taxation and social spending in a democratic Chile	136
5.6	Failed redistributive efforts in a fragmented democracy: Social security reforms in Brazil	138
5.7	Neopopulism and policies on social funds in Peru	139
5.8	Transition at the sectoral level? Mexico's targeted antipoverty programs	141
5.9	Popular budgeting in Porto Alegre: Explaining a transition to a new political equilibrium	142
5.10	Local contexts and the transition from clientelism: Ibague versus Pasto	144
Chapter 6
6.1	Schematic representation of household income determination	150