The present Report is motivated by the coming together o f three widespread perceptions about inequality, two somewhat newer and one long-standing. The two newer ones are; (i) that inequality may matter for the country's economic development, and (ii) that public policy can and should do...

This report reviews South Africa's recent economic and social developments. It underlines that South Africa's current economic rebound may not be sustained if the fundamental factors undermining its growth potential are not boldly addressed. This includes in particular income inequality, which...

Section one provides an economic update and assesses the challenges and near-term prospects facing the South African economy. In particular, it looks at the implications for South Africa of the resurgence of uncertainty in global financial markets, the surge in capital flows to safe-haven...

Nicaragua is a small, open economy that is vulnerable to external and natural shocks. With an estimated Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of US$1000 in 2006, and a total population of 5.2 million, it is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Forty six percent of the population lived...

The study analyzes Chile's strong economic growth, and well directed social programs, a combination that reduced the poverty rate in half, during a period of just eleven years. The previously noted trends in falling poverty, in terms of incidence, depth, and severity, continued into 1998, and...

The study reviews the forces driving Mexico's inequality, in particular, the recent expansion in earnings inequality, emphasizing the roles of education on: establishing an analytical framework, that allows interaction between education, and labor market; examining the evolution of earnings...

"Measured by the Gini coefficient, income inequality in Brazil rose from 0.57 in 1981 to 0.63 in 1989, before falling back to 0.56 in 2004. This latest figure would lower Brazil's world inequality rank from 2nd (in 1989) to 10th (in 2004). Poverty incidence also followed an inverted U-curve over...

"Consumption baskets vary across households and inflation rates vary across goods. As a result, standard consumer price index (CPI) inflation may provide a misleading measure of the inflation actually faced by poor households, more so the more unequal the distribution of aggregate consumption...