Two Systems of Inequality Reproduction in Latin America

This talk will present an overview of the Latin American and Caribbean Inequality Review (LACIR), a five-year independent scholarly project that sought to take stock of what is and isn’t known about inequality in that region of the world, and perhaps to make a few inroads into relevant new research areas. LACIR was overseen by fifteen-member expert panel and produced 28 papers published in an open-access journal. A subset of authors is now working on a synthesis volume. In this presentation, Francisco Ferreira will structure the discussion of key findings along the lines of the proposed synthesis and try to distil the main lessons from the project in terms of the equilibrium forces that make inequality so persistent in the region, despite longstanding efforts to reduce it.

Francisco Ferreira is the Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director of the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. His work on the measurement, causes, and consequences of inequality and poverty in developing countries has been published widely and awarded various prizes. He is also a Research Fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); an Affiliated Scholar with the Stone Centers at the City University of New York and at the University of Chicago; President-Elect of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ); a member of the United Nations University Council; a former President of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association and a former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Economic Inequality. Prior to joining the faculty at LSE, he had a long career at the World Bank but also taught at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and at the Paris School of Economics. He was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and holds a PhD in Economics from the LSE.

Chair: Enrique Castañon.