inequality

Ethnoracial Inequality in Latin America: Measuring the Effectiveness of Fiscal Redistribution in Bolivia, Brazil, and Guatemala

June 23, 2017

A key indicator of ethnoracial income inequality is the difference in the probability of being poor between whites and non-whites. This probability is expressed as the percentage of individuals living below the poverty line. In Brazil, 5.2 percent of whites live below the extreme poverty line, while, for non-whites, that figure is 14.6 percent. In Bolivia, where 14.7 percent of whites live below the poverty line, the rate for non-whites is 31.5. In Guatemala, the rate for whites is 20.6, and the rate for non-whites is 46.6. To what extent does fiscal policy reduce this gap?

Carlos' Story

December 16, 2016

This past summer I had the incredible opportunity to spend half of my summer working in Sololá, Guatemala.  The municipality is located in the Western highlands of the country, and I was specifically staying around the beautiful Lake Atítlan in the town of San Juan La Laguna.  When my intern team’s boat landed in San Juan’s dock, I remember being a bit apprehensive – I had been forewarned that the town was more in tune to its Maya roots and that it would be a much more traditional experience than the other parts of Guatemala we had visited.

A Disappearing Act: Where has One Third of Ecuador's GDP Gone?

October 25, 2016

In June 2015, members of the United Nations joined at the Addis Ababa development financing conference.  At the head of the docket was the topic of tax evasion, and developing countries pushed for the creation of an intergovernmental tax body within the UN which would ultimately establish global tax rules and help eliminate tax havens.

Favelas in Brazil Becoming Lodging Hot Spots for World Cup

October 20, 2016

In Rio de Janeiro, a growing crime rate still plagues much of the city and the sound of gunshots and back-alley drug deals are not uncommon occurrences. The torture and murder of a bricklayer from the neighborhood of Rocinha has sparked protests against the corrupt police forces responsible. Despite these ongoing issues, tourists are finding themselves seeking lodging within these neighborhoods. Hotels in Rio are in very short supply and even the most basic hotels have increased their prices to $450 per night during the World Cup1.

New IMF Recommendations for Colombia and Their Implications

October 20, 2016

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently concluded the annual Article IV Consultation with Colombian policymakers, which took place from March 3rd-13th.2The IMF mission was headed by Valerie Cerra, who concluded that Colombia had a strong macroeconomic policy framework and was able to weather the global financial crisis through an inflation-targeting regime, maintaining

How Can Latin American Governments Work to Sustain Falling Income Inequality?

October 5, 2016

Since 1980, the poverty rate in Latin America has fallen 30%, a third of the decline due to progressive shifts in the income distribution.1 In 2000, a quarter of the region (25 in every 100 Latin Americans) lived on less than $2.50 a day. Today, fewer than 14 in every 100 do.2 Since roughly 2002, falling income inequality is visible in the entirety of the heterogeneous region: among commodity driven economies such as Peru and manufacturing dominant ones such as Mexico. How can one explain the common outcome given the diversity of the region’s makeup?

Watering the Classes: Mexico City's Water Shortage

April 26, 2016

The COP21, United Nations Conference on Climate Change concluded earlier this month in Paris. Ahead of the talks, Mexico released a national strategy on climate change, pledging to cap greenhouse gas emissions by 2026. Mexico was one of the first countries to submit its climate change plan in advance of the Paris talks and their pledged cap on greenhouse emissions has been met with praise from countries such as the United States.

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