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Five centuries of Latin American income inequality*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2010

Jeffrey G. Williamson
Jeffrey G. Williamson*
Affiliation:
Harvard University and University of Wisconsin, 350 South Hamilton Street Apartment 1002. Madison, WI 53703. jwilliam@fas.harvard.edu
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Abstract

Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy believe that it has always had very high levels of inequality. Indeed, some have argued that high inequality appeared very early in the post-conquest Americas, and that this fact supported rent-seeking and anti-growth institutions that help explain the disappointing growth performance we observe there even today. This paper argues to the contrary. Compared with the rest of the world, Latin American inequality was not high either in pre-conquest 1491 or in the post-conquest decades following 1492. Indeed, it was not even high in the mid-19th century just before Latin America’s belle époque. It only became high thereafter. Historical persistence in Latin American inequality is a myth.

Resumen

La mayoría de los análisis sobre la economía latinoamericana contemporánea creen que siempre ha tenido muy altos niveles de desigualdad. A decir verdad, algunos han argumentado que los altos niveles de desigualdad aparecieron en épocas muy tempranas en la América posterior a la Conquista. Esto supondría la existencia de instituciones buscadoras de renta y no propiciatorias del crecimiento lo que nos ayudaría a explicar los problemas de desarrollo que observamos incluso hoy en día. Este artículo argumenta lo contrario. Comparada con el resto del mundo, la desigualdad en Latinoamérica no era alta en los años anteriores a la Conquista de 1491, y no fue alta en las décadas posteriores que siguieron a 1492. En realidad, no fue alta a mitad del siglo XIX en los años anteriores a la belle époque en Latinoamérica. Sólo llegó a ser alta posteriormente. La persistencia histórica de la desigualdad en Latinoamérica es un mito.

Keywords

inequalitydevelopmentLatin AmericaN16N36O15D3desigualdaddesarrolloLatinoamérica
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 28 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on Latin American Inequality , September 2010 , pp. 227 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2010

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