The Income Inequality of Brazil
The gap between Brazil’s richest and poorest people has been a persistent issue throughout the history of the nation. Since 1960, Brazil’s GINI index, a tool used to measure the income inequality of a nation, has remained between a staggering 0.519 and 0.63. Besides very slight improvement, the nation continues to have one of the world’s most unequal distribution of wealth. According to Thomas Skidmore, the causes of this inequality stem from not just economic factors, but cultural and political as well. These factors will be discussed as well as the consequences that arise from this poor distribution of wealth (Skidmore 133-134).
The world economy in general is a factor of Brazil’s inequality. Recent decades have shown that income distribution has grown more unequal in general, with more developed economies included. Populations have experienced an increasing wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers, and Brazil is no exception. Brazil has been industrialized since the 1920s, and went through a massive surge of population growth after 1945. Skidmore points out that the consequences of a rapidly growing, industrialized society is that the productivity gains tend to go disproportionately to the owners of capital which suppresses the labor share of national income (Skidmore 135). There are many Brazilian-specific historical factors that have also contributed to this economic problem.
The elite in this country have influenced it immensely, specifically by using government policy, such as taxes and benetits, to their own economic advantage. Taxes and public benefits have consistentiy favored the five to ten percent of the wealthiest people in Brazil who have been able to have leverage on the government. This creates a system that is very effective at keeping the rich, rich, and the poor, poor. Culturally, Brazilians have been a patrimonial and personalistic society. This means that, because of their emphasis and familial and personal relationships, work-related credentials have less importance to most. This creates a culture that is not oriented toward the reward of merit. Arguably, the most negative outcome of this colonial legacy has been the neglect of education. Due to the lack of respect for merit as well as the poor distribution of wealth, only the richest went to school up through the twentieth century. Not only that, Brazil did not even have a single university until 1932 (Skidmore 138).
Another factor that cannot be ignored is the massive amount of slavery that was done up until Brazil became the last country to abolish it in 1988. According to John Otis, freed slaves and their families have never been properly taken care of, which shows. Brazilians who identify themselves as black or brown represent more than 50 percent of the population. However, this half of the population makes less than half the income of whites. It is no coincidence that Brazil’s GINI index is very close to that of Selma, Alabama, a city that was indicative of the struggle for civil and voting rights in America (Otis 7-8). The consequences of these contributing factors the and effects of them have been nothing short of detrimental. Impoverished students that go to public school are about two years behind in curriculum in comparison to the education that the rich can afford at a private school.
It is practically impossible for the average Brazilian to attend private school, as the average income is 970 dollars per month, while the tuition for the average private school is 700 dollars a month. Claudia Costin, who is the education secretary for Rio de Janeiro, has been noted to compare Brazil’s income inequality to this “educational apartheid” (Otis 2-10). The large income gap and the emotional and social hardships that stem from it have been theorized to be a large part of the country’s suicide rate, according to research. Tables of concluded research have shown a strong correlation between suicides of both genders, the GINI index and level of education.
The suicide rate was higher in those that did not complete basic studies, which is a direct result of not being able to afford it due to the wage gap (Machado et. al, Tables 1-3). Clearly, the income inequality of Brazil has been and most likely will continue to be a massive problem for this country for many years. It is also a model of just how important equality of all types are critical to the health of a nation.
Works Cited
- Skidmore, Thomas E. “Braziľ’s Persistent Income Inequality: Lessons from History.” Latin American Politics and Society, 46.2, 2004: 133-38. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177177? seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents. Accessed 25 September 2016.
- Machado DB, Rasella D, dos Santos DN. “Impact of Income Inequality and Other Social Determinants on Suicide Rate in Brazil.” PLoS ONE, 2015, pp. 1-12. Research Gate, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124934. Accessed 25 September 2016.
- Otis, John. “Brazil’s ‘Educational Apartheid’ Cements Inequality Early in Life. Public Radio International, 17 Jan. 2013, http://ww w.pri.org/stories/2013-01-17/brazils- educational-apartheid-cements-inequality-early-life. Accessed 25 September 2016.
