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

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.