| Resumen: |
fter a decade marked by sustained economic
growth—despite the 2008–09
global fi nancial crisis—and declining
inequality in many countries in Latin America
and the Caribbean (LAC), it is time to take
stock of the region’s broad socio-economic
trends. Moderate poverty fell from more than
40 percent in 2000 to less than 30 percent in
2010. This decline in poverty implies that 50
million Latin Americans escaped poverty over
the decade. But which workers and households
succeeded in leaving poverty, and which did
not? What happened to those who left poverty
behind? Did they all join the region’s growing
middle class? What are the implications for
public policy?
To address these questions, Economic
Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American
Middle Class exploits a unique combination
of data sources, ranging from multiple
household surveys and student achievement
tests to surveys of attitudes, opinions, and
beliefs, to shed light on the social transformation
going on in Latin America in this
new millennium. It proposes a new definition
of the middle class based on economic
security and applies it to most countries
in the region. |
