Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Latin American income distribution is among the most unequal in the world. Both the poor and the wealthy have paid a price for this inequality, which is in part responsible for the region's low growth rates. The essays in this book propose new ways of reducing inequality, not by growth-inhibiting transfers and regulations, but by enhancing efficiencyeliminating consumption subsidies for the wealthy, increasing the productivity of the poor, and shifting to a more labor and skill-demanding growth path. In Beyond Tradeoffs, Latin American experts demonstrate how market-friendly measures in key policy areas can simultaneously promote greater equity and greater efficiency. By identifying win-win strategies, the authors challenge the conventional wisdom that there is always a tradeoff between these two objectives. Extensive macroeconomic reforms in the region have provided opportunities to implement such strategies across many sectors. The volume aims at building a " Latin consensus" on a second round of reformsreforms that address the urgent issue of inequality without undermining efficient growth. Contributors include Jonathan Coles, Rene Cortazar, Ricardo Hausmann, Juan Luis Londoo, Nora Lustig, Moises Nam, and Joseph Stiglitz. Copublished with the Inter-American Development Bank
Table of Contents
Foreword / Michael Armacost and Enrique V. Iglesias -- Virtuous circles in Latin America's second stage of reforms / Nancy Birdsall, Carol Graham, and Richard H. Sabot -- Kinds and causes of inequality in Latin America / John Sheahan and Enrique V. Iglesias -- Structural reforms and equity / Eduardo Lora and Juan Luis Londoäno -- Growth with equity: the volatility connection / Michael Gavin and Ricardo Hausmann -- No tradeoff: efficient growth via more equal human capital accumulation / Nancy Birdsall and Juan Luis Londoäno -- Inequality-reducing growth in agriculture: a market-friendly policy agenda / Michael R. Carter and Jonathan Coles -- Economic policy and labor market dynamics / Renâe Cortâazar, Nora Lustig, and Richard H. Sabot -- Equity benefits from financial market reforms / Liliana Rojas-Suâarez, and Steven R. Weisbrod -- Pension reform: an efficiency-equity tradeoff? / Estelle James -- Reforming public monopolies: water supply / Raquel Alfaro, Ralph Bradburd, and John Briscoe -- Inequality and growth: implications for public finance and lessons from experience in the United States / Joseph Stiglitz -- The political economy of institutional reform in Latin America / Carol Graham and Moisâes Naim.