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Persistent Poverty and Excess Inequality: Latin America, 1970-1995

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This work assesses the changes in aggregate poverty and inequality that have taken place in Latin America during the past 26 years. With this objective, we put together the largest number of observations on income distribution for the region for the period from 1970-1995. We find that poverty and inequality have not declined during the 1990s in spite of improvements at the macroeconomic level. The characteristics of our data allow us to perform various comparisons between countries. Our results show that even though there are differences in levels across countries, inequality and poverty in most of them follow similar trends during the period under study.

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  • Juan Luis Londoño & Miguel Székely, 2000. "Persistent Poverty and Excess Inequality: Latin America, 1970-1995," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 3, pages 93-134, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cem:jaecon:v:3:y:2000:n:1:p:93-134
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    Cited by:

    1. Almas Heshmati, 2006. "Continental And Sub-Continental Income Inequality," The IUP Journal of Applied Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(1), pages 7-52, January.
    2. Leonardo Gasparini & Pablo Glüzmann, 2012. "Estimating Income Poverty and Inequality from the GallupWorld Poll: The case of Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 21(1), pages 3-27, March.
    3. William C. Gruben & Darryl McLeod, 2003. "Choosing among rival poverty rates : some tests for Latin America," Center for Latin America Working Papers 0103, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    4. Armando Barrientos, 2013. "Politicising poverty in Latin America in the light of Rawls’ ‘strains of commitment’ argument for a social minimum," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 18213, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Fernández, Manuel & Messina, Julián, 2018. "Skill premium, labor supply, and changes in the structure of wages in Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 555-573.
    6. repec:idb:brikps:340 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Heshmati, Almas, 2004. "The World Distribution of Income and Income Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 1267, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Ángela Jeaneth Ospina Enciso, 2011. "A comparative analysis between the relation of income distribution and economic regional integration in East Asia and Latin America," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 3(1), pages 107-127, June.
    9. Miguel Székely & Nora Lustig & Martin Cumpa & José Antonio Mejía-Guerra, 2000. "¿Sabemos qué tanta pobreza hay?," Research Department Publications 4240, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    10. Franco, Rolando & Sáinz, Pedro, 2001. "The Latin American social agenda in the year 2000," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    11. Miguel Braun & Luciano di Gresia, 2003. "Towards Effective Social Insurance in Latin America: The Importance of Countercyclical Fiscal Policy," Research Department Publications 4333, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    12. Fortun Vargas, Jonathan M., 2012. "Declining inequality in Bolivia: How and Why," MPRA Paper 41208, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Miguel Szekely & Nora Lustig & Martin Cumpa & Jose Antonio Mejia, 2004. "Do we know how much poverty there is?," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 523-558.
    14. Miguel Székely, 2001. "Los años 90 en América Latina: otra década de desigualdad persistente, pero con un poco menos de pobreza," Research Department Publications 4272, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    15. Manuel Fernández & Gabriela Serrano, 2022. "New Perspectives on Inequality in Latin America," Documentos CEDE 20295, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    16. Leonardo Gasparini & Guillermo Cruces & Leopoldo Tornarolli & Mariana Marchionni, 2009. "A Turning Point? Recent Developments on Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0081, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    17. Miguel Székely, 2001. "Where to From Here? Generating Capabilities and Creating Opportunities for the Poor," Research Department Publications 3128, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    18. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    19. Claudia Biancotti, 2004. "A Polarization of Polarization? The Distribution of Inequality 1970-1996," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 487, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    20. Miguel Székely, 2001. "The 1990s in Latin America: Another Decade of Persistent Inequality, but with Somewhat Lower Poverty," Research Department Publications 4271, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    21. Chiara Binelli, 2008. "Returns to Education and Increasing Wage Inequality in Latin America," Working Paper series 30_08, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    22. repec:idb:brikps:322 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Inequality; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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