This document takes up a number of the points raised in the 2005 report by ECLAC and other UN agencies on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides further discussion on the type of problems and challenges facing the region in five areas that are either included in the MDGs or closely related to them (poverty, hunger and child malnutrition, education, health and children). The document makes recommendations for the region's governments and countries in these five areas.…
This article analyses the costs in terms of income distribution of the crisis and adjustments of the 1980s, as well as the effects of the subsequent recovery and resumption of sustained growth patterns. This analysis is based on comparable pairs of estimates of income distribution and poverty prepared by ECLAC for the ten largest and predominantly urban countries of the region. The method of analysis consists, on the one hand, of comparing the changes in distribution and in the macroeconomic and labour market variables during similar macroeconomic phases in the course of the adjustment process…
1 Jun 2004, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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What is poverty, how to measure it and how to tackle it, are the three questions to which this document responds, on the basis of the theoretical framework of gender studies.
The harmonization of policies for economic growth, social equity and gender equity is a challenge that can no longer be ignored.
Poverty is considered as the result of power relations that first of all affect men and women in a different way, but then also indigenous and Afro-descendent women, older adults and the inhabitants of certain areas. The multidimensional nature of this phenomenon is shown, as well as the virtues…
The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of globalization on the labour market and social stratification. It is generally held that globalization will bring about progress for nations and people. This, however, is far from clear, since the experience of almost two decades has been raising increasing doubts about the potential net gains and, particularly, the distribution of such gains. Clearly, there are winners and losers among both countries and people. We will concentrate on the effects upon people within countries and refer only to one region: Latin America. Our aim is to iden…
Dear Executive Secretaries of the sister UN Regional Economic Commissions,
Dear Selwin Hart, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Climate Action Team (CAT)
Dear Thilmeeza Hussain, Director of the Regional Commissions New York Office,
Distinguished guests, colleagues, and participants,
Welcome to this side-event on how Critical Energy Transition Minerals can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), convened under the auspices of the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions.
Today, we gather to address a defining challenge of our time: powering and enabling the…
1 Nov 2015, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:20
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This paper discusses the role of institutions and structural change in shaping income inequality. It is argued that while social expenditure and direct redistribution are crucial for improving income distribution, sustainable equality requires structural change to create decent jobs. The relative importance of these variables in different countries is analyzed and a typology suggested. It is argued that the most equal countries in the world combine strong institutions in favor of redistribution and knowledge-intensive production structures that sustain growth and employment in the long run. Bo…
1 Abr 2014, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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This paper provides empirical evidence to assess the impact of socioeconomic and political variables on different measures of income inequality based on the 27 units of the Brazilian federation in the period from 1999 to 2008. The Brazilian experience is a good example for understanding the income inequality policies in developing countries. The findings suggest that the improvement observed along the period under analysis is a result of the combination of increased trade openness, technological and financial development, a reduction in the unemployment rate, the adoption of social policies th…
This study investigates the relationship between individual and household characteristics and income inequality in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Mexico from 1990 to 2002. A Theil decomposition exercise of individual and household income inequality is used to determine factors important for the level of inequality. In addition, the use of a novel semi-parametric simulation methodology from DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux (1996) provides counterfactual income distributions of individuals and households to assess the importance of changes in their demographic, education and labo…
1 Jun 2017, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:27
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The international economy is marked by major asymmetries in technological capabilities and power, both at the domestic and international levels —a point emphasized by the structuralist tradition. These asymmetries strongly affect economic outcomes and place major constraints on economic policy. This working paper discusses how the microeconomics of learning interacts with structural change and the evolution of aggregate demand to generate either virtuous paths of economic development or vicious circles of underdevelopment and lagging behind. Some implications of these growth paths for the inte…
18 Oct 2022, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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Este documento presenta una revisión de las estadísticas distributivas en la República Dominicana a partir de la combinación de distintas fuentes de información: encuestas de hogares, registros tributarios y cuentas nacionales.
El trabajo es el resultado de un proceso de colaboración entre el Gobierno de la República Dominicana, la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y World Inequality Lab, como parte del proyecto “Innovative approaches for examining inequality through integration of different data sources in Latin America and the Caribbean”, del decimotercer tramo de la…
8 Mayo 2015, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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Comunicado de prensa
(8 de mayo, 2015) La igualdad debe ser el motor del crecimiento económico y el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina y el Caribe, planteó Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), en la décima reunión sobre América Latina del Foro Económico Mundial (WEF, según sus siglas en inglés), que finaliza hoy en Cancún, México.
La máxima representante de la CEPAL fue una de las expositoras en el panel From Poverty to Prosperity (De la pobreza a la prosperidad) realizado el jueves durante el evento que reúne a más de 750 líderes de gobierno, …
1 Abr 2001, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:21
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Now that the 1990s have ended and a new millennium is dawning, the low rate of economic growth, the region's vulnerability to international financial instability and the limited progress made in terms of equity oblige us to reflect on the social agenda for the future. An important role in that agenda will continue to be played by the efforts to overcome poverty and indigence, conditioned to a large extent by the region's capacity for economic change and its dynamism in creating large numbers of jobs of higher quality in terms of productivity and income. At the same time, in view of t…
1 Mayo 2000, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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Second regional conference in follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development. Santiago, Chile, 15-17 May 2000 Summary The courses of action recommended at the World Summit for Social Development coincide with the general thrust of the action taken by the Governments of the region in the economic and social spheres during the 1990s. The objective of this document is to weigh the positive and negative aspects of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean with regard to poverty reduction, productive job creation and social integration within the wider context of economic changes and s…
11 Nov 2024, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:23
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Addressing inequality fosters an enabling environment for innovation and capacity-building amid technological advancements, leading to economic growth and the strengthening of political institutions.
Despite the increased focus on income inequality in recent years, its measurement remains a topic of discussion. This document highlights the need to improve the availability and timeliness of household surveys, national accounts and income tax records for a more complete picture of income distribution. Integrating these data sources through the construction of “distributional national accounts” p…
1 Nov 1999, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:21
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Abstract This paper has analyzed the changes in the distribution of income in Colombia since 1976 using data for urban economy (seven largest metropolitan areas) and for the manufacturing sector. Evidence is shown that the structural reforms that took place in the early 1990s have been related to higher income concentration in Colombia, where levels of inequality were already impressively high. The results suggest that both trade liberalization and skill complementary technological change have a positive impact on skill premiums. The evidence presented suggests that skill complementary technol…
1 Abr 2010, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:27
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This article examines the effects of globalization on the trade unionmovement in developing countries (the South );. It concludes, first, thatglobalization has been asymmetrical: much further-reaching for tradein goods than for capital flows, weak for technology transfer and verylimited in migratory flows. Second, it examines the role and economicrepercussions of labour unions. It finds that, contrary to the orthodoxview, these have little negative impact on employment but do significantlyreduce wage inequalities. In view of the shift in the South since the 1980saway from developmen…
1 Nov 2006, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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Abstract This paper presents a methodology for adjusting measures of income and poverty for the risk faced by a household. The approach draws on the standard economic concept of risk aversion, and it is based on the intuition that households will prefer a steady stream of income to a variable one with the same mean. Relying on a Constant Relative Risk Aversion utility function, we use panel data for Argentina to compute risk-adjusted income and poverty measures. At the aggregate level, we find that taking risk into account substantially increases the poverty headcount. Moreover, a regression …
This article seeks to set forth the grounds for an approach integrating political governance, economic competitiveness and social integration as interdependent variables. To this end, it looks at the possibilities for Latin American society to simultaneously increase its capacity for democratic self-government, improve its economic competitiveness and tackle the main problems of social exclusion and poverty, since if this is not done the region will find it more difficult to take its place in the concert of modern democratic nations. In order to analyse the evolution of those variables from a …
19 Abr 2013, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:28
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Comunicado de prensa
(17 December 2012) Why is Latin America and the Caribbean still the world's most unequal region, despite the fact that most of its countries are experiencing steady economic growth? The persistent inequality in the region and the apparent lack of specific policies aimed at reducing the income distribution gap are some of the issues tackled in the latest issue of the CEPAL Review, which is available online from today.
This issue (Nº 108) of the main academic publication of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) includes 10 articles on various economic and social top…
7 Nov 2013, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 07:38
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Comunicado de prensa
(1 September 2012) In view of the debate that has arisen following the release of the latest results of Chile's Socioeconomic Survey (CASEN), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) wishes to inform the public of the scope of its participation in this process.
ECLAC has used its well-recognized technical capacities to provide support for the CASEN survey since it began in 1987. It has done so in the firm belief that reliable statistical instruments are essential for generating effective public policies capable of reducing poverty and inequality.
The Commission wishe…