Labor informality is a pervasive characteristic of the labor markets in Latin America, and a central issue in the public policy debate. This paper discusses the concept of labor informality and implements alternative definitions using microdata from around 300 national household surveys in all...

This document presents a systematic review of empirical approaches to the identification and measurement of the middle class as the concept is used in the applied literature. It then presents an arguably less arbitrary definition of the middle class which is based on sound principles of...

This note illustrates how modern computer intensive tools like the bootstrap provide a simple and efficient way to compute interval estimates and standard errors for inequality measures. Additionally, the same methodology is used to implement a formal test of the null hypothesis of no changes in...

This paper provides evidence on the incidence of poverty among the elderly in Latin America and the Caribbean, based on household survey microdata from 20 countries. The situation of older people is characterized in terms of income, employment, education, health and access to services vis-à-vis...

This paper takes advantage of a new source of information – the Gallup World Poll 2006 – to estimate and characterize income poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at the country level, and to compare LAC estimates to those in other regions of the world. The Gallup...

In this review we expose the OECD Income Distribution Database to critical scrutiny, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. As it is almost inevitable in any critical assessment, we could not avoid being somewhat biased toward highlighting the limitations, without being similarly emphatic...

¿Cómo viabilizar social y políticamente el proceso de integración a la economía mundial? ¿Cómo aumentar el ritmo de crecimiento de la productividad del trabajo, fuente última del crecimiento sostenible y del aumento del salario real? ¿Cómo lograr condiciones de trabajo mejores, más...

El objetivo de este trabajo es reseñar brevemente los métodos tradicionales de evaluación del impacto distributivo de las políticas públicas y discutir algunos de los avances más relevantes en los últimos veinte años. El trabajo se concentra en la evaluación de programas sociales,...

En este trabajo se documenta y analiza la segregación escolar entre alumnos de distintos estratos socioeconómicos que asisten a escuelas públicas y privadas en Argentina. El trabajo contribuye con evidencia empírica a la medición de este fenómeno desde 1986 hasta la actualidad, incluyendo...

This paper provides original empirical evidence on the evolution of education inequality for all Latin American countries over the decades of 1990 and 2000. The analysis covers a wide range of issues on differences in educational outcomes and opportunities across the population, including...