Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures

How has wealth accumulated in Latin America and how is it distributed across households? Despite the region being widely recognized for its extreme income inequality, data on wealth are scarce, partial and often contradictory, making it difficult to answer these basic questions. We estimate wealth a...

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Manylion Llyfryddiaeth
Prif Awduron: Carranza, R, De Rosa, M, Flores, I
Fformat: Journal article
Iaith:English
Cyhoeddwyd: Oxford University Press 2025
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author Carranza, R
De Rosa, M
Flores, I
author_facet Carranza, R
De Rosa, M
Flores, I
author_sort Carranza, R
collection OXFORD
description How has wealth accumulated in Latin America and how is it distributed across households? Despite the region being widely recognized for its extreme income inequality, data on wealth are scarce, partial and often contradictory, making it difficult to answer these basic questions. We estimate wealth aggregates based on macroeconomic data and wealth inequality based on recently available surveys and on administrative data. We contrast our results with those in the literature, with a handful of estimates from administrative sources, and with estimates from Credit Suisse and wid.world. In considering all the evidence, we distinguish reliable facts from what can only be conjectured or speculated. We find that aggregate wealth increased over two decades in four countries, and that wealth inequality is extremely high where it can be measured (with a top 1% share of up to 40%), which is likely to be the case for the whole region.
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spelling oxford-uuid:b28484d8-bcdb-41c7-ad15-53c18be2307b2025-03-05T20:06:36ZWealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjecturesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b28484d8-bcdb-41c7-ad15-53c18be2307bEnglishJisc Publications RouterOxford University Press2025Carranza, RDe Rosa, MFlores, IHow has wealth accumulated in Latin America and how is it distributed across households? Despite the region being widely recognized for its extreme income inequality, data on wealth are scarce, partial and often contradictory, making it difficult to answer these basic questions. We estimate wealth aggregates based on macroeconomic data and wealth inequality based on recently available surveys and on administrative data. We contrast our results with those in the literature, with a handful of estimates from administrative sources, and with estimates from Credit Suisse and wid.world. In considering all the evidence, we distinguish reliable facts from what can only be conjectured or speculated. We find that aggregate wealth increased over two decades in four countries, and that wealth inequality is extremely high where it can be measured (with a top 1% share of up to 40%), which is likely to be the case for the whole region.
spellingShingle Carranza, R
De Rosa, M
Flores, I
Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title_full Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title_fullStr Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title_full_unstemmed Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title_short Wealth inequality in Latin America (2000–2020): data, facts and conjectures
title_sort wealth inequality in latin america 2000 2020 data facts and conjectures
work_keys_str_mv AT carranzar wealthinequalityinlatinamerica20002020datafactsandconjectures
AT derosam wealthinequalityinlatinamerica20002020datafactsandconjectures
AT floresi wealthinequalityinlatinamerica20002020datafactsandconjectures