Income distribution,basic needs and trade-offs with growth: The case of semi-industrialized Latin American countries

This paper addresses income distribution issues and policy options to eliminate extreme poverty in a particular typology of middle-income semi-industrialized developing countries of Latin America. The countries included in the typology are characterized by a relatively high per capita income (above US$700/yr in 1977), a relatively high degree of industrialization (industry representing over 30% 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 countries included are Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, representing two-thirds of the population of that region.