Rob Vos

Lance Taylor

Ricardo Paes de Barros

Since the late 1980s, almost all Latin American countries have undergone a series of far-reaching economic reforms. This book provides a comparative and analytical framework for assessing the impact of these reforms upon 16 countries.

Latin America in the 1990s

Economic Liberalization, Distribution, and Poverty

Francisco H. G. Ferreira

During the turbulent years 1976-96, aggregate data for Brazil appear to show only small changes in mean income, inequality, and incidence of poverty -- suggesting little change in the distribution of income. But a small group of urban households -- excluded from formal labor markets and safety nets -- was trapped in indigence. Based on welfare measured in terms of income alone, the poorest part of urban Brazil has experienced two lost decades.

Explaining the Increase in Extreme Poverty in Urban Brazil, 1976-1996

The Slippery Slope

Jose R Molinas Vega

Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi

Equality of opportunity is about leveling the playing field so that circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, place of birth, or family background do not influence a person s life chances. Success in life should depend on people s choices, effort and talents, not to their circumstances at birth. 'Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean' introduces new methods for measuring inequality of opportunities and makes an assessment of its evolution in Latin America over a decade. An innovative Human Opportunity Index and other parametric and non-parametric techniques are presented for quantifying inequality based on circumstances exogenous to individual efforts. These methods are applied to gauge inequality of opportunities in access to basic services for children, learning achievement for youth, and income and consumption for adults.

Ricardo Paes de Barros

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