Declining inequality in Bolivia: How and Why

Fortun Vargas, Jonathan M. (2012): Declining inequality in Bolivia: How and Why. Published in: International Proceedings of Economics Development and Research , Vol. 43, (September 2012): pp. 180-185.

Abstract

Latin America has often been depicted as one of the most unequal regions in the world. However, after the rising of inequality, the figure decline dramatically starting from the year 2000. In this setting, Bolivia has been one of the poorest performers on income distribution efforts, lately, this situation has been improving. The author investigates the dynamics of this change through an analysis of household level surveys for 4 different years (2003/04, 2005, 2008 and 2009). The research applies a method of inequality decomposition– as developed by (Fields, 2003)-, this technique consists on regressing the expenditure of households against a vector of explanatory variables. The results suggest that education (more than other variables) has contributed on the reduction of inequality in Bolivia. Moreover, the sources of inequality are mainly attributed to the differences on human capital accumulation more than any other variables, such as the gender of the household head or the ethnical origin of the household. The results are in line with similar work made by other authors on the same issue (Gray-Molina, et al., 2001; Gray Molina &Yañez, 2009)

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Economic Development, Inequality, Income Distribution, Bolivia
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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