Four decades of consumption inequality in Brazil (1987-2018)

Pedro Forquesato (), Ana Bottega () and Victoria Luiza Tosi ()

No 2026_02, Working Papers, Department of Economics from University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

Abstract: Although Brazil is a major developing economy and one of the most unequal countries in the world, there are notably few estimates of consumption inequality for that country. In this paper, we present the most comprehensive time series of consumption inequality ever built for Brazil, covering over four decades (1987-2018). We also innovate compared to previous analysis by estimating demand systems and using the estimated Engel income elasticities to correct for several forms of measurement error. This is especially important since older rounds of the Brazilian consumption survey are plagued with mismeasurement, biasing previous estimates. We find that when considering the ratio of the top 10% to the bottom 40% of income, consumption inequality remained constant until the mid-1990s, and has since decreased sharply to about 60% of its initial levels.

Keywords: inequality; Engel curves; consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D31 O54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-12
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