Moving up the income ladder? What are the obstacles: a case study of indigenous people in Latin America

Latin America is traditionally the region with the highest income and wealth inequality and the indigenous people are the most socially excluded group of the society. The obstacles they face on their way to becoming middle class are numerous. Markets sometimes operate in an anti-poor way, e.g. capital market imperfections. Next, many Latin American countries are agrarian societies with high land inequality. Also, indigenous people continue to have lower health and education indicators. Possible solutions should include state intervention in providing easier access to credit for the indigenous, land reform, health and education systems that are more universal and better targeting of social transfers.