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Household Wealth in Latin America

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  • Florencia Torche
  • Seymour Spilerman

Abstract

This paper provides a descriptive analysis of wealth ownership and wealth inequality in Latin American countries, using diverse published sources and primary data analysis for 16 nations. We produce estimates of the distribution of home ownership, land, and financial assets, and find very high wealth concentration in all these types of assets, with the partial exception home ownership. The relevance of informal assets and the historical patterns of wealth accumulation and concentration since colonial times are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Florencia Torche & Seymour Spilerman, 2006. "Household Wealth in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-114, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2006-114
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/rp2006-114.pdf
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    2. Mauricio De Rosa, 2018. "Wealth distribution in Uruguay: capitalizing incomes in the dark," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 18-07, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    3. Mauricio De Rosa, 2022. "Accumulation, inheritance and wealth distribution: first estimates of the untold half," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-07, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    4. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2012. "Inequality Trends and their Determinants: Latin America over 1990-2010," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-009, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Burger, Ronelle & Booysen, Frikkie & Berg, Servaas van der & Maltitz, Michael von, 2006. "Marketable Wealth in a Poor African Country," MPRA Paper 9063, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Carlos Guerrero-de-Lizardi, 2015. "An Imperfect Approach for Looking at the Distribution of Financial and Non-Financial Wealth in Mexico 1984-2012," Remef - The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance, Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas. Remef, September.
    7. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2012. "Inequality Trends and their Determinants: Latin America over 1990-2010," Working Papers - Economics wp2012_02.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
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    9. Christian Rogg, 2006. "Asset Portfolios in Africa: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Davies, James B. & Sandstrom, Susanna & Shorrocks, Anthony & Wolff, Edward N., 2006. "The World Distribution of Household Wealth," Conference papers 331490, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Blanco, Luisa, 2010. "Life is Unfair in Latin America, But Does it Matter for Growth?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 393-404, March.
    12. Chwieroth, Jeffrey & Walter, Andrew, 2020. "Great expectations, financialization and bank bailouts in democracies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102749, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Luis Fernando Castro Peñarrieta & Gustavo Zárate Taborga & Valeria Salinas Maceda, 2019. " - Análisis de la desigualdad de largo plazo en Bolivia, 1976 - 201," INESAD book chapters, in: Beatriz Muriel Hernández (ed.), Investigaciones para el Desarrollo Económico de Bolivia, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 81-112, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.
    14. Carlos Guerrero de Lizardi, 2015. "An Imperfect Approach for Looking at the Distribution of Financial and Non-Financial Wealth in Mexico 1984-2012," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 10(2), pages 145-158, Julio-Dic.
    15. Ronelle Burger & Frikkie Booysen & Servaas van der Berg & Michael von Maltitz, 2006. "Marketable Wealth in a Poor African Country: Using an index of consumer durables to investigate wealth accumulation by households in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-138, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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