Inequality in Latin America

Every year the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) publishes a monograph titled Economic and Social Progress in Latin America. Most years the reports address a particular theme, some of them of narrow interest. Reading them can be tedious; they are written by economists who favor a matter-of-fact style. But the reports invariably contain a wealth of information. Especially compelling is the 1998-1999 report, a monumental study of inequality in Latin America, entailing a staggering amount of work. But the report is especially useful because it addresses issues that have been overshadowed by a flurry of attention to the region’s financial markets: the stability of currencies, the interest rates set by central banks, the movement...