Abstract:
We examine how macroeconomic performance, mainly in the role of high rates of inflation, affected earnings inequality in the 1980s and early 1990s in Brazil. The resultsbased initially on national timeseries, and then on the relatively novel sub-national panel time-series T N data and analysisshow that the extreme inflation, combined with the incomplete indexation coverage seen at the time, had a regressive and significant impact on inequality. Thus, sound macroeconomic policies, which keep inflation low and stable in the long run, are to be a necessary first step of any policy package implemented to alleviate inequality in Brazil.