Is Inequality really declining in Latin America? Evidence on income, wealth and the social structure

Abstract

This paper examines several dimensions of inequality in theLatin American region focusing on top income shares and Gini coefficients, top wealth shares and the size wealth distribution. Itc ompares inequality of income according to household surveys and income inequality using tax data showing the former tends to underestimate top shares and gini coefficients and therefore the extent of inequality. The social structure is assesed for economic elites, the middle class and the working poor.