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Education and Changes in Brazilian Wage Inequality, 1976–2001

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  • Orlando J. Sotomayor

Abstract

In countries with high levels of inequality, progress in education has often been placed high in the list of policy proposals designed to change the unequal state of affairs. This study uses Brazilian annual data to chart the trends in wage inequality and a decomposition procedure to ascertain how wage distribution was affected by advances in education that doubled the median schooling level of prime-age men during the sample period. The results show that while falling returns to education were an equalizing factor across the wage distribution, changes in the educational composition of the work force exerted a disequalizing influence that was strongest at the top of the distribution. The net result was a fall in wage dispersion that was not as dramatic as might have been hoped.

Suggested Citation

  • Orlando J. Sotomayor, 2004. "Education and Changes in Brazilian Wage Inequality, 1976–2001," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(1), pages 94-111, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:58:y:2004:i:1:p:94-111
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390405800105
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. George Psacharopoulos & Samuel Morley & Ariel Fiszbein & Haeduck Lee & William C. Wood, 1995. "POVERTY AND INCOME INEQUALITY IN LATIN AMERICA DURING THE 1980s," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 41(3), pages 245-264, September.
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    1. Sotomayor, Orlando, 2008. "The Distribution of Household Income in Brazil: Unequal and Immutable?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1280-1293, July.

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