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Economic Polarisation in Latin America and the Caribbean: What do Household Surveys Tell Us?

Author

Listed:
  • Leonardo Gasparini

    (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - FCE - UNLP)

  • Matías Horenstein

    (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - FCE - UNLP)

  • Sergio Olivieri

    (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - FCE - UNLP)

Abstract

This document presents and discusses an extensive set of statistics aimed at characterizing the degree of economic polarisation in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. The study is based on a dataset of household surveys from 21 LAC countries in the period 1989-2004. Latin America is characterised by a high level of economic polarisation, compared to other regions in the world. On average, income polarisation has mildly increased in the region since the early 1990s. The country experiences in terms of income polarisation, however, have been heterogeneous. The region has moved forward toward the reduction of educational inequalities, while the gaps between the rich and the poor in terms of access to basic services (water and electricity) have been reduced.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo Gasparini & Matías Horenstein & Sergio Olivieri, 2006. "Economic Polarisation in Latin America and the Caribbean: What do Household Surveys Tell Us?," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0038, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    • Handle: RePEc:dls:wpaper:0038
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    File URL: http://cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/archivos_upload/doc_cedlas38.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jérôme Lefranc, 2012. "Polarisation et déclin de la classe moyenne : le cas de la Russie," Post-Print halshs-00775929, HAL.
    2. Carter, Michael & Morrow, John, 2012. "Left, right, left: income dynamics and the evolving political preferences of forward-looking Bayesian voters," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58159, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. World Bank, 2008. "Uruguay : Poverty and Social Impact Assessment of the Tax Reform," World Bank Publications - Reports 7890, The World Bank Group.
    4. Jérôme Lefranc, 2012. "Polarisation et déclin de la classe moyenne : le cas de la Russie," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12054, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Esteban Cabrera Cevallos & Edwin Buenaño, 2018. "¿Ha crecido la clase media en el Ecuador? Un análisis mediante índices de polarización del ingreso para el periodo 2007-2014," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 21(1), pages 121-152, June.
    6. Ricardo Bebczuk, 2009. "SME Access to Credit in Guatemala and Nicaragua: Challenging Conventional Wisdom with New Evidence," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0080, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    7. Modrego, F. & Celis, X. & Berdegué, J., 2008. "Polarización étnica de los ingresos rurales en el sur de Chile," Working papers 015, Rimisp Latin American Center for Rural Development.
    8. Leonardo Gasparini & Ezequiel Molina, 2006. "Income Distribution, Institutions and Conflicts: An Exploratory Analysis for Latin America and the Caribbean," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0041, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    9. C�line Bonnefond & Matthieu Cl�ment, 2012. "An analysis of income polarisation in rural and urban China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 15-37, June.
    10. Leonardo Gasparini & Matias Horenstein & Ezequiel Molina & Sergio Olivieri, 2008. "Income Polarization in Latin America: Patterns and Links with Institutions and Conflict," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 461-484.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    polarisation; cohesion; inequality; Latin America; Caribbean;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics

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