Balancing Trickle Down and Basic Needs Strategies: Income Distribution Issues in Large Middle-Income Countries with Special Reference to Latin America

摘要

This paper addresses income distribution issues and explores various policy options to eliminate extreme poverty in a particular typology of middle income developing countries. The countries included in the typology are characterized by a relatively high per capita income (above US$600 per year in 1976), a relatively high degree of industrialization (industry representing over 30 percent of GNP), a rather large size both in population and area, and relatively well endowed resources in agriculture. A distinctive feature is a strong inequality in the distribution of income and wealth relative to other countries of similar levels of per capita income. The typical countries characterizing the typology are Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Turkey. Because the Latin American countries included represent two-thirds of the population of the region, this report is basically addressed to that region. (Copyright (c) 1979 by the World Bank.)