The role of tax-benefit systems in reducing the gender income gap in Latin America

María Cecilia Deza, Mariana Dondo, H. Xavier Jara, David Rodríguez and Javier Torres

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper aims to assess the extent to which cash transfers, direct taxes, and social insurance contributions help to reduce gender income inequalities in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. We apply microsimulation techniques to household survey data and allocate incomes within the household, assuming that each person retains the income they receive (e.g., earnings, benefits targeting mothers) and pays taxes and social insurance contributions on an individual basis according to each country’s rules. Then, we compare gender income ratios based on market (before taxes and benefits) and disposable (after taxes and benefits) income. Our results show that, at the bottom of the distribution, tax-benefit systems significantly reduce gender income disparities in most countries due to the effect of social assistance benefits received by mothers in poor households. Additionally, we find that women have substantially higher poverty rates than men based on individual disposable income. Gender differences in poverty fade away when income is pooled at the nuclear family level and, even more so, at the household level.

Keywords: taxes; benefits; microsimulation; gender gap; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H24 I32 I38 J16 J70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2025-08-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-pbe and nep-pub
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Published in Social Policy and Administration, 14, August, 2025. ISSN: 0144-5596

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:129049

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