The Strugglers: The New Poor in Latin America?

Nancy Birdsall, Nora Lustig and Christian Meyer

World Development, 2014, vol. 60, issue C, 132-146

Abstract: We identify a group of people in Latin America that are not poor but not middle class either—namely “strugglers” in households with daily income per capita between $4 and $10 (at constant 2005 PPP). This group will account for about a third of the region’s population over the next decades; as the size and income of the middle class rises, they could become increasingly marginalized. The cash transfers they receive are largely offset by indirect taxes; the benefit of schooling and other in-kind transfers they receive is questionable after adjusting for quality. We discuss implications for the social contract.

Keywords: income distribution; poverty; inequality; fiscal incidence; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:60:y:2014:i:c:p:132-146

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.019

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