As Joana Silva and I document in a recent book, earnings inequality declined in 16 of the 17 countries in Latin America for which consistent statistics can be calculated, although the intensity and turning points diverged across countries. For example, after a decade of stagnant or slowly increasing inequality, the 90th/10th interquantile range of the labor earnings … [Read more...] about Did Education and Job Experience Reduce Inequality in Latin America?
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Greater Efficiency and the Path to a Prosperous Future for Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean has a difficult puzzle to solve. Growing national income is feeding demands for more and better government services. At the same time, because many governments increased expenditure during the years of the commodity boom and now face less favorable external conditions, they will need to adjust. In a context of external headwinds there is … [Read more...] about Greater Efficiency and the Path to a Prosperous Future for Latin America and the Caribbean
When Globalization and Populism Meet
It amounts to an upheaval. Populist movements claiming to speak directly for the people and opposed to everything from bankers to immigrants and the institutions of liberal democracy have altered the political landscape in large areas of the world. Think Brexit in Great Britain, Syriza and Podemos in Greece and Spain, and the populist candidates in the most recent elections in … [Read more...] about When Globalization and Populism Meet
The Skills Gap: Holding Latin America Back
From a certain optic, advances in education in Latin America and the Caribbean have been remarkable. In 1900, only one in three children attended primary school. Very few advanced to secondary school. Today, primary education in the region is nearly universal and enrollment in secondary school stands at nearly 80%. Unfortunately, those gains in access to education have not … [Read more...] about The Skills Gap: Holding Latin America Back
Falling Inequality: A Brazilian Whodunnit
By Julián Messina, Francisco H.G. Ferreira and Sergio Firpo Long one of the world’s most unequal countries, Brazil surprised pundits by recording a massive reduction in household income inequality in the last couple of decades. Between 1995 and 2012, the country’s Gini coefficient for household incomes fell by seven points, from 0.59 to 0.52. (For comparison, all of the … [Read more...] about Falling Inequality: A Brazilian Whodunnit