Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299399 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1599
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
In well-functioning democracies, the policymaking process should in principle respond to persistent economic inequality with corrective policies. This process is set in motion through majority demands for redistributive taxation and spending that elected representatives eventually supply through policies designed to alleviate inequality. Policymaking constraints on both the demand side and the supply side have, however, considerably limited the extent of redistributive policies in Latin America. This paper explores recent data patterns from national and micro data to provide several potential explanations for the continuing high inequality observed in the region. Countries with stronger democracies have adopted more redistributive policies, even though post-tax inequality remains high in all of the region's democracies. Low citizen interpersonal and political trust both lead to fiscal policy preferences that constrain effective redistribution. Electoral participation has risen in the more democratic countries, while economically motivated protests have increased in weakly institutionalized settings.
Subjects: 
Inequality
Policymaking
Redistribution
Trust
Protests
Latin America
JEL: 
D63
D72
H20
H41
O10
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.