Has Latin America Always Been Unequal? A Comparative Study of Asset and Income Inequality in the Long Twentieth Century

313 Pages·2009·2.34 MB·English

by  Ewout Frankema

Has Latin America Always Been Unequal?
Global Economic History Series
Series Editors
Maarten Prak, Utrecht University
Jan Luiten van Zanden, Utrecht University and
International Institute of Social History
Editorial Board
Gareth Austin, London School of Economics and Political Science
Şevket Pamuk, London School of Economics and Political Science
Kenneth L. Pomeranz, University of California, Irvine
Tirthankar Roy, London School of Economics and Political Science
Peer H.H. Vries, University of Vienna
VOLUME 3
Has Latin America Always
Been Unequal?
A Comparative Study of Asset and Income
Inequality in the Long Twentieth Century
By
Ewout Frankema
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
On the cover: Photo taken near Abancay, Andean highlands, Peru. Photo by the author.
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frankema, Ewout.
Has Latin America always been unequal? : a comparative study of asset and income
inequality in the long twentieth century / by Ewout Frankema.
p. cm. — (Global economic history series, ISSN 1872-5155 ; v. 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17591-4 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Income distribution—Latin America. 2. Equality—Latin America. 3. Latin
America—Economic conditions—1982- I. Title. II. Series.
HC130.I5F73 2009
339.2098—dc22
2009012184
ISSN 1872-5155
ISBN 978 90 04 17591 4
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
For Arjanne and Julian

CONTENTS
List of Tables ...................................................................................... xi
List of Figures ..................................................................................... xiii
List of Tables and Figures in Appendix ........................................ xv
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ xvii
Chapter One Introduction ............................................................ 1
1.1 Latin America: A History of Persistent Inequality? ....... 1
1.2 Th e Long Twentieth Century ............................................ 5
1.3 ‘Latin’ Inequality Characteristics ....................................... 8
1.4 An Integrative Approach .................................................... 10
1.5 Outline ................................................................................... 14
PART ONE
Chapter Two Th e Institutionalisation of Inequality in
Colonial Latin America ................................................................ 21
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 21
2.2 Th e Core and the Periphery ............................................... 21
2.3 Mercantilism and Resource Extraction ............................ 27
2.4 Th e Institutionalisation of Inequality ............................... 30
2.5 Th e Disintegration of the Colonial Empire in the
19th Century ........................................................................ 37
2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................ 40
Chapter Th ree Th e Omnipresence of Land Inequality in
Post-Colonial Latin America ....................................................... 43
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 43
3.2 Perspectives on the Colonial Roots of Latin American
Land Inequality .................................................................... 44
3.3 Global and Regional Variation in Levels of Land
Inequality ............................................................................... 49
3.4 A Multivariate Regression Analysis of Land Inequality 56
3.5 Land Market Institutions in Th ree British Colonies:
Malaysia, Sierra Leone and Zambia ................................. 60
viii contents
3.6 Th e Colonial Roots of Latin American Land Inequality
in Comparative Perspective ............................................... 75
3.7 Conclusion ............................................................................ 80
Chapter Four Th e Advance of Mass Education: Quantity or
Quality? ........................................................................................... 85
4.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 85
4.2 From Land Inequality to Educational Inequality ........... 87
4.3 Th e Comparative Development of Primary School
Enrolment Rates, 1870–2000 ............................................. 90
4.4 Educational Inequality in Latin America: Diff erent
Concepts, Diff erent Views .................................................. 97
4.5 A Grade Enrolment Distribution Approach, 1960–2005 101
4.6 Conclusion ............................................................................ 113
PART TWO
Chapter Five Th e Secular Trend of Income Inequality,
1870–2000: Th eoretical and Historical Perspectives ............... 119
5.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 119
5.2 Th e Distributive Consequences of Globalisation and
De-Globalisation .................................................................. 120
5.3 Th e Distributive Consequences of Factor Biased Structural
and Technological Change ................................................. 127
5.4 Institutional Change and Distributional Change:
a Collective Action Perspective ......................................... 134
5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................ 145
Chapter Six Changing Patterns of Factor Income Distribution,
1870–2000 ....................................................................................... 147
6.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 147
6.2 Decomposing National Income into Factor Income Shares 149
6.3 Population Growth, Rural-Urban Migration and Urban
Informal Sector Expansion ................................................. 151
6.4 Relative Wage Shares in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico,
1870–2000 ............................................................................. 158
6.5 Th e Evolution of Labour-Capital Income Shares in the
Long Twentieth Century .................................................... 166
6.6 Conclusion ............................................................................ 173
contents ix
Chapter Seven Th e Recent Rise of Urban Wage
Inequality ........................................................................................ 177
7.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 177
7.2 Labour Market Institutions and Wage Inequality in Early
20th Century Argentina ...................................................... 178
7.3 Long Run Trends in Manufacturing Wage Inequality .... 183
7.4 Explaining the Recent Rise in Urban Wage and
Productivity Diff erentials ................................................... 194
7.5 Conclusion ............................................................................ 202
Chapter Eight Conclusion ............................................................. 205
8.1 Has Latin America Always Been Unequal? ..................... 205
8.2 Future Perspectives .............................................................. 210
Appendix ............................................................................................. 213
References ........................................................................................... 265
Index .................................................................................................... 279