CHANGES IN INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN LATIN-AMERICA

This paper analyzes the relation of changes of inequality and poverty in Latin America with growth, over the decades prior to the crisis, and with macroeconomic changes in different phases of the adjustment processes of the eighties. It makes use of comparable income distribution data and poverty estimates for 10 Latin American countries, taking into account their limitations. The evidence shows that equalizing growth has been a less common experience than unequalizing growth and as frequent as growth with unchanged inequality. Poverty has been nearly always reduced by economic growth, but it has increased with the disruption of growth and the increase of inequality. Rural poverty has tended to decrease, even during the eighties, in good measure through rural-urban migrations. Inequality and urban poverty have increased during the recessive phases of the eighties, but ensuing recovery did not bring enough improvement to restore previous distributive conditions. The analysis of country cases suggests some speculative conclusions as to whether there are permanent changes towards greater inequality and regarding the pace at which poverty alleviation can be expected.