scholarly journals The Distributional Consequences of Social Distancing on Poverty and Labour Income Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaure Delaporte ◽  
Julia Escobar ◽  
Werner Pena
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Labour Income ◽  
Distributional Consequences ◽  
The Caribbean

scholarly journals The distributional consequences of social distancing on poverty and labour income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaure Delaporte ◽  
Julia Escobar ◽  
Werner Peña
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Labour Income ◽  
Distributional Consequences ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Latin American And Caribbean

AbstractThis paper estimates the potential distributional consequences of the first phase of the COVID-19 lockdowns on poverty and labour income inequality in 20 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. We estimate the share of individuals that are potentially able to remain active under the lockdown by taking into account individuals’ teleworking capacity but also whether their occupation is affected by legal workplace closures or mobility restrictions. Furthermore, we compare the shares under the formal (de jure) lockdown policies assuming perfect compliance with the shares under de facto lockdowns where there is some degree of non-compliance. We then estimate individuals’ potential labour income losses and examine changes in poverty and labour income inequality. We find an increase in poverty and labour income inequality in most of the LAC countries due to social distancing; however, the observed changes are lower under de facto lockdowns, revealing the potential role of non-compliance as a coping strategy during the lockdowns. Social distancing measures have led to an increase in inequality both between and within countries. Lastly, we show that most of the dispersion in the labour income loss across countries is explained by the sectoral/occupational employment structure of the economies.

Research Insights: How Much Has Human Mobility Been Reduced by Social Distancing Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Aromi ◽  
María Paula Bonel ◽  
Julian P. Cristia ◽  
Martín Llada ◽  
Juan I. Pereira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Public Events ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Reduced Mobility ◽  
Over Time

The lockdowns implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean in March 2020 reduced the share of people who travel more than 1 km (about 0.6 miles) per day by 10 percentage points during the 15 days following its implementation. The effects of the lockdowns declined over time: the effect amounted to 12 percentage points during the first week and to 9 percentage points during the second week of the implementation of the lockdowns. In contrast, school closures reduced mobility by only 5 percentage points, and no effects were found for bar and restaurant closures or the cancellation of public events. The results suggest that lockdowns are a tool that can produce reductions in mobility quickly. This is important given the expectation that reduced mobility slows the spread of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Welfare State Development, Individual Deprivations and Income Inequality: A cross-country analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gibran Cruz-Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
State Development ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Dimensional Variable

Several scholars have confirmed the role that the welfare state (WS) plays in reducing poverty, promoting equality and ensuring the common wellbeing. One of the limitations of the scholarship has been the conceptualization and operationalization of the WS and poverty as one-dimensional variables. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between welfare state development, single-dimensions deprivations and income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, before and after controlling for demographic and cyclical factors. The WS is operationalized as a one-dimensional variable, but also taking into account its multidimensional nature. Three individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty and two income inequality indicators are used as dependent variables. Three pooled time-series cross-section regression analyses with panel-corrected standard errors models were carried out on 18 countries in the region around 2000, 2005 and 2010. This paper shows that the development of social-welfare programs and institutions seems to be an effective way of tackling individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty in the region. On the other hand, the WS development didn’t appear to be effective to reduce income inequality. The outcomes of welfare institutions appear to be the pivotal dimension to reduce income inequality and income deprivations in the region.

Austerity may thwart poverty progress in Latin America

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Caribbean

Subject Poverty and income inequality. Significance On January 26, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released its latest annual report on poverty and income distribution. In a mixed picture marked by important differences between countries, it found that progress in reducing total poverty has stalled, and extreme poverty has increased slightly. However, income inequality appears to be continuing to diminish, although more slowly than before the 2008-09 crisis. Impacts Since 2011, government social spending again appears to have become pro-cyclical, hampering progress on poverty. The gender gap remains the largest stumbling block to reducing poverty and inequality. In the poorest countries, there are not only more poor people but they also suffer more types of deprivation.

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