Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class
After decades of stagnation, the size of Latin America's middle class recently expanded to the point where, for the first time ever, the number of people in poverty is equal to the size of the middle class. This volume investigates the nature, determinants and possible consequences of this rema...
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| Principais autores: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Online |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Publicado em: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2012
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| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11858 https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9634-6 |
| _version_ | 1866367385108217856 |
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| author | Ferreira, Francisco H.G. Messina, Julian Rigolini, Jamele López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Lugo, Maria Ana Vakis, Renos |
| author_facet | Ferreira, Francisco H.G. Messina, Julian Rigolini, Jamele López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Lugo, Maria Ana Vakis, Renos |
| author_sort | Ferreira, Francisco H.G. |
| collection | Publicaciones regionales/sectoriales principales |
| description | After decades of stagnation, the size of Latin America's middle class recently expanded to the point where, for the first time ever, the number of people in poverty is equal to the size of the middle class. This volume investigates the nature, determinants and possible consequences of this remarkable process of social transformation. We propose an original definition of the middle class, tailor-made for Latin America, centered on the concept of economic security and thus a low probability of falling into poverty. Given our definition of the middle class, there are four, not three, classes in Latin America. Sandwiched between the poor and the middle class there lies a large group of people who appear to make ends meet well enough, but do not enjoy the economic security that would be required for membership of the middle class. We call this group the 'vulnerable'.
In an almost mechanical sense, these transformations in Latin America reflect both economic growth and declining inequality in over the period. We adopt a measure of mobility that decomposes the 'gainers' and 'losers' in society by social class of each household. The continent has experienced a large amount of churning over the last 15 years, at least 43% of all Latin Americans changed social classes between the mid 1990s and the end of the 2000s.
Despite the upward mobility trend, intergenerational mobility, a better proxy for inequality of opportunity, remains stagnant. Educational achievement and attainment remain to be strongly dependent upon parental education levels. Despite the recent growth in pro-poor programs, the middle class has benefited disproportionally from social security transfers and are increasingly opting out from government services. Central to the region's prospects of continued progress will be its ability to harness the new middle class into a new, more inclusive social contract, where the better-off pay their fair share of taxes, and demand improved public services. |
| format | Online |
| id | wb-10986-11858 |
| institution | Banco Mundial |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Washington, DC: World Bank |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | wb-10986-118582025-04-15T11:28:30Z Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class La movilidad económica y el crecimiento de la clase media en América Latina La movilidad economica y el crecimiento de la clase media en America Latina Ferreira, Francisco H.G. Messina, Julian Rigolini, Jamele López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Lugo, Maria Ana Vakis, Renos Inequality Measurement Middle Class Mobility Poverty Social Class Vulnerability After decades of stagnation, the size of Latin America's middle class recently expanded to the point where, for the first time ever, the number of people in poverty is equal to the size of the middle class. This volume investigates the nature, determinants and possible consequences of this remarkable process of social transformation. We propose an original definition of the middle class, tailor-made for Latin America, centered on the concept of economic security and thus a low probability of falling into poverty. Given our definition of the middle class, there are four, not three, classes in Latin America. Sandwiched between the poor and the middle class there lies a large group of people who appear to make ends meet well enough, but do not enjoy the economic security that would be required for membership of the middle class. We call this group the 'vulnerable'. In an almost mechanical sense, these transformations in Latin America reflect both economic growth and declining inequality in over the period. We adopt a measure of mobility that decomposes the 'gainers' and 'losers' in society by social class of each household. The continent has experienced a large amount of churning over the last 15 years, at least 43% of all Latin Americans changed social classes between the mid 1990s and the end of the 2000s. Despite the upward mobility trend, intergenerational mobility, a better proxy for inequality of opportunity, remains stagnant. Educational achievement and attainment remain to be strongly dependent upon parental education levels. Despite the recent growth in pro-poor programs, the middle class has benefited disproportionally from social security transfers and are increasingly opting out from government services. Central to the region's prospects of continued progress will be its ability to harness the new middle class into a new, more inclusive social contract, where the better-off pay their fair share of taxes, and demand improved public services. Tras décadas de estancamiento, la población de clase media en América Latina y el Caribe ha aumentado un 50% - de aproximadamente 100 millones en 2003 a 150 millones en 2009. Durante este periodo, el porcentaje de la población pobre disminuyó notablemente, del 44% al 30%. Esta publicación analiza la naturaleza, los determinantes y las posibles consecuencias de este notable proceso de transformación social. Según los autores, el grupo social más grande de la región actualmente no son los pobres ni la clase media, sino un estrato de personas vulnerables situadas entre el umbral de la pobreza y los requisitos mínimos para disfrutar de un modo de vida más seguro, propio de la clase media. El auge de la clase media refleja los cambios recientes de la movilidad económica y si bien este auge conlleva numerosos beneficios potenciales, la materialización de éstos depende en gran medida de que los países consigan anclar la clase media en torno a un nuevo contrato social, más cohesivo, que ponga en relieve la necesidad de incluir a todos aquellos que han quedado rezagados. 2012-11-13T15:44:37Z 2012-11-13T15:44:37Z 2013 978-0-8213-9634-6 https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11858 https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9634-6 en World Bank Latin American and Caribbean Studies; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank application/pdf text/plain application/pdf application/pdf text/plain Washington, DC: World Bank |
| spellingShingle | Inequality Measurement Middle Class Mobility Poverty Social Class Vulnerability Ferreira, Francisco H.G. Messina, Julian Rigolini, Jamele López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Lugo, Maria Ana Vakis, Renos Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title | Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title_full | Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title_fullStr | Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title_full_unstemmed | Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title_short | Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class |
| title_sort | economic mobility and the rise of the latin american middle class |
| topic | Inequality Measurement Middle Class Mobility Poverty Social Class Vulnerability |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11858 https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9634-6 |
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