Discount for our new book

As I have written in this blog in the past, my friend Juliana Martínez Franzoni and I have just finished a book on how to build universal social policy in the South.  I hope to write a longer summary/discussion of the book here soon, but now I would like to encourage all of you to buy it or order it for the library.  You can get a 20% discount here.

Here the abstract:

Universal social policies have the power to reduce inequality and create more cohesive societies. How can countries in the South deliver universalism? This book answers this question through a comparative analysis of Costa Rica, Mauritius, South Korea, and Uruguay, and a detailed historical account of Costa Rica's successful trajectory. Against the backdrop of democracy and progressive parties, the authors place at center stage the policy architectures defined as the combination of instruments that dictate the benefits available to people. The volume also explores the role of state actors in building pro-universal architectures. This book will interest advanced students and scholars of human development and public and social policies, as well as policymakers eager to promote universal policies across the South. 

Hard to believe: evolution of income at the top

I am trying to write an article summarising the recent evolution of income inequality in Latin America.  The reduction in all countries but Honduras is well known, but some numbers are just hard to believe.  This is the reduction experienced by top incomes during the period 2001-2012.  The share decreased in almost all countries and in several by more than 20%.  This is hard to reconcile with the evolution of political economy and also with the limited data we have based on tax receipts.

Percentage change in the income share of the top decile, 2001-2012

Source: own calculations with data from SCEDLAS

A review of the links between the commodity boom and inequality in Latin America

Thanks to the kind invitation from Carmen Díaz Roldán to give a lecture at the Jornadas de Economía Internacional, I had the opportunity to reflect on why Latin America used the latest commodity boom better than in the past to reduce income inequality.  The expansion of unskilled jobs together seems to be at the heart of the region´s success...but also relatively unexplained.  Here the presentation in English and here in Spanish.  I hope to write a paper on it soon, so comments welcome!