The political economy of redistribution and (in)efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean

Inequality is a crucial issue in Latin America, as are the very low productivity gains of
the last 60 years and the low levels of investment and efficiency. Most of the literature, particularly that
which deals with the political economy determinants of these problems, has considered them individually.
In this article, we revisit the discussion on the political economy of redistribution (or lack thereof) in Latin America and the Caribbean, and attempt to embed it in a broader political economy debate. We
characterize the region and its different countries regarding the size of the public sector, the extent of
fiscal redistribution, and how efficient this public action is. We summarize various strands of literature
that attempt to explain some elements of that fiscal vector one at a time, and provide a simple framework
that, combining elements of several strands of the literature, might explain why different countries
present different configurations of government size, redistribution, and efficiency.

Mariano Tommasi (Argentina) tiene un doctorado en Economía de la Universidad de Chicago. Es Profesor Plenario del Departamento de Economía de la Universidad de San Andrés y director del Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Humano, ambos en Argentina. Es Fellow de la Econometric Society. Se especializa en economía política, economía institucional, pobreza y políticas sociales. +