Despite meaningful progress in the first two decades of this century, Latin America and the Caribbean remains one of the world’s most unequal regions, with gaping disparities in income that most analysts agree puts it in the position of competing with sub-Saharan Africa—with its outliers like Namibia and South Africa—for the unenviable title of the world's most unequal region. … [Read more...] about How Inequality is Inherited in Latin America and the Caribbean
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From Empowerment to Inequality: The Tradeoffs of Community-Based Targeting
Local leaders know a lot about the people in their communities, including their level of wealth and need. That can often allow them to distribute resources, like anti-poverty funds, more effectively than far away bureaucracies. But where community members must decide on the basis of multiple, difficult-to-verify criteria, things get murky. How should loans, for example, be … [Read more...] about From Empowerment to Inequality: The Tradeoffs of Community-Based Targeting
The Governance Dimension of Persistent Inequality in Latin America
Despite decades of democratic governance and policy reforms, economic inequality in Latin America remains a stubborn reality. Concentrated income and wealth among the richest 10% of the population has left the poorest 10% with less than 2% of total income. The disparities have endured for the last 30 years, even in relatively stable democracies like Chile, Colombia, and … [Read more...] about The Governance Dimension of Persistent Inequality in Latin America
Nudging to Get Citizens to Pay Their Taxes and Improve the Delivery of Public Goods
Latin America and the Caribbean has faced several consecutive crises, from COVID to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that have weakened countries' ability to provide their citizens goods and services and underscored the need to increase rates. Budgets are tight and capital spending meager, and the region can’t afford rates of evasion for personal and corporate income taxes … [Read more...] about Nudging to Get Citizens to Pay Their Taxes and Improve the Delivery of Public Goods
Montesquieu’s Mistake, or Why Inequality Doesn’t Have to Be Part of the Latin American DNA
It is often noted that Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws is the book that sets forth the concept of branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Through his influence on the French liberals, Montesquieu is one of the key figures of the 1789 French Revolution, whose cry was “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity.” There is, however, another central part of The Spirit … [Read more...] about Montesquieu’s Mistake, or Why Inequality Doesn’t Have to Be Part of the Latin American DNA