Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/66683 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Citation: 
[Journal:] Estudios de Economía [ISSN:] 0718-5286 [Volume:] 38 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Economía [Place:] Santiago de Chile [Year:] 2011 [Pages:] 259-293
Publisher: 
Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Economía, Santiago de Chile
Abstract (Translated): 
In the Latin American context, Chile has the highest level of per capita income and the human development index, though the distribution of income is quite unequal. Unlike Uruguay, Chile has one of the more unequal income distributions of the region. In 2003, Chile had Gini Coefficient of 8.5 points higher than Uruguay. Using micro/simulations, the analysis shows that most of the difference regarding income distribution comes from the wealthier households, particularly those that belong to the top 2%. Those households get the greatest proportion of resources coming from non-labor income. At the same time, the difference in returns to higher education explains another 20% of the income differences between Chile and Uruguay. Social conditions such as social security benefits and the participation of women in the labor market are not significant to explain the differences between these countries. Finally, this paper shows that national account adjustment to income information in Chilean households´ survey explains a third of the Gini coefficient gap between Chile and Uruguay, without the national account adjustment, the income distribution gap among both countries would diminish in three points from earlier estimation. Even though this significative reduction the reasons to explain the gap would remain identical than previous analysis.
Subjects: 
microsimulation
income distribution , inequality
pensions
labor participation
returns to schooling
JEL: 
D3
J2
J3
Document Type: 
Article

Files in This Item:
File
Size
597.45 kB





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