Nora Lustig
Biographic Data
| ID | 643992 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nora Lustig |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nora |
| FAMILY NAME | Lustig |
| SIGNATURE | LUSTIG N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tulane University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3171-6605 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 53 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 192 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 52 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Measuring the effectiveness of fiscal policy in multidimensional poverty reduction
Inequality Bands
Projecting the impact of Covid-19 on education and intergenerational mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa
Using microsimulations, we project the effect of instructional losses caused by COVID-19 on secondary school completion rates and intergenerational mobility of education in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. On average, secondary school completion rates could decrease by 12 percentage points overall and by 16 points for children with low-educated parents. Interestingly, in most countries the gender gap diminishes because, for men, the project…
Universal Basic Income Programs
Using microsimulations this paper analyzes the poverty and tax implications of replacing current transfers and subsidies by a budget-neutral (no change in the fiscal deficit) universal basic income program (UBI) in Brazil, Chile, India, Russia, and South Africa. We consider three UBI transfers with increasing levels of generosity and identify scenarios in which the poor are no worse off than in the baseline scenario of existing social transfers. …
The challenge of income inequality in Latin America
Seventy-five years after the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) was founded, reducing the concentration of income and wealth remains one of the key challenges in Latin America. This article firstly reviews the contributions made by ECLAC and Latin American structuralism to the analysis and measurement of the income distribution. It then describes the main trends of inequality in the region from 1990 to the present, an…
The Pink Tide and Income Inequality in Latin America
Latin American countries experienced a significant reduction in income inequality at the turn of the twenty-first century. From the early 2000s to around 2012, the average Gini coefficient fell from 0.51 to 0.47. The period of falling inequality coincided with leftist presidential candidates achieving electoral victories across the region: by 2009, 11 of the 17 countries had a leftist president-the so-called Pink Tide. Using a difference-in-diffe…
Fiscal Redistribution and Ethnoracial Inequality in Bolivia, Brazil, and Guatemala
Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples in Latin America face higher poverty rates and are disproportionately represented among the poor. The probability of being poor is between two and three times higher for indigenous and Afro-descendants than whites. Using comparable fiscal incidence analyses for Bolivia, Brazil, and Guatemala, I analyze how much poverty and inequality change in the ethnoracial space after fiscal interventions. Although taxes…
How Brazil and Mexico Diverged on Social Protection in the Pandemic
Mexico and Brazil, both among the region’s hardest hit by COVID-19, took strikingly different steps to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. Although President Jair Bolsonaro dismissed the need for social distancing measures, the government provided substantial financial aid to citizens though cash transfer programs, avoiding potentially sharp increases in poverty and inequality. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who also dis…
Covid-19 and social protection of poor and vulnerable groups in Latin America
The growing crisis caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic has dire implications for Latin American societies. As is often the case, the most vulnerable sectors of society —especially those living in extreme poverty— are being hit the hardest. This article identifies strategies and specific responses designed to achieve three goals: (i) reduce epidemiological risks to save lives; (ii) protect livelihoods; and (iii) ensure human capital accumul…
Intergenerational transmission of lockdown consequences
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10888-021-09501-x
Inequality in Mexico
Income inequality in Mexico increased between 1989 and 1994; between 1994 and 2006, inequality declined; and, between 2006 and 2014, inequality was again on the rise. We apply decomposition techniques to analyse the proximate determinants of labour income inequality and fiscal incidence analysis to estimate the first-order effects of taxes and social spending on the distribution of income. The key component that underlies the ‘rise-decline-rise a…
Economic Inequality and Social Progress
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The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Transfers
The World Bank has partnered with the Commitment to Equity Institute at Tulane University to implement their diagnostic tool—the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Assessment—designed to assess how taxation and public expenditures affect income inequality, poverty, and different economic groups. The approach relies on comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis, which measures the contribution of each individual intervention to poverty and inequality reducti…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Global Poverty Lines
Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor
To analyze anti-poverty policies in tandem with the taxes used to pay for them, comparisons of poverty before and after taxes and transfers are often used. We show that these comparisons, as well as measures of horizontal equity and progressivity, can fail to capture an important aspect: that a substantial proportion of the poor are made poorer (or non-poor made poor) by the tax and transfer system. We illustrate with data from seventeen developi…
Appraising Cross-National Income Inequality Databases
In response to a growing interest in comparing inequality levels and trends across countries, several cross-national inequality databases are now available. These databases differ considerably in purpose, coverage, data sources, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and quality of documentation. A special issue of the Journal of Economic Inequality, which this paper introduces, is devoted to an assessment of the merits and shortcomings of eight such …
Appraising cross-national income inequality databases
Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and the Ethnic Divide in Guatemala
A Long-Term Perspective on Inequality and Human Development in Latin America
Latin America has always been seen as a region with inherently high levels of inequality. After devoting his time and scientific talent to explore the new world in the early nineteenth century, Ale
The Strugglers
Latin America's Inequality Success Story
The results of in-depth analyses for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico reveal two main factors that explain this phenomenon: a fall in the premium that favors skilled over unskilled labor, and more progressive government transfers targeting the poor
Deconstructing the Decline in Inequality in Latin America
Inequality in Latin America unambiguously declined in the 2000s. The Gini coefficient fell in 16 of the 17 countries where there are comparable data, and the change was statistically significant for all of them. Existing studies point to two main explanations for the decline in inequality: a reduction in hourly labor income inequality, and more robust and progressive government transfers. Available evidence suggests that it is the skill premium -…
Social Spending, Taxes and Income Redistribution in Uruguay
How much redistribution does Uruguay accomplish through social spending and taxes? How progressive are revenue collection and social spending? A standard fiscal incidence analysis shows that Uruguay achieves a nontrivial reduction in inequality and poverty when all taxes and transfers are combined. In comparison with five other countries in Latin America, it ranks first (poverty reduction) and second (inequality reduction), and first in terms of …
Poor Economics
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. Jackson, TN: PublicAffairs, 2011. 320 pp. ISBN: 978-1-58648-798-0 (hbk.). US$26.99. Po
Declining Inequality in Latin America in the 2000s
Declining Inequality in Latin America in the 2000s
Poor Economics
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. Jackson, TN: PublicAffairs, 2011. 320 pp. ISBN: 978-1-58648-798-0 (hbk.). US$26.99. Po
The Strugglers
Economic crisis, adjustment and living standards in Mexico, 1982–85
Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and the Ethnic Divide in Guatemala
Coping with Austerity
Appraising cross-national income inequality databases
Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor
To analyze anti-poverty policies in tandem with the taxes used to pay for them, comparisons of poverty before and after taxes and transfers are often used. We show that these comparisons, as well as measures of horizontal equity and progressivity, can fail to capture an important aspect: that a substantial proportion of the poor are made poorer (or non-poor made poor) by the tax and transfer system. We illustrate with data from seventeen developi…
Crises and the Poor
This paper presents evidence on the impact of economic crisis on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Crises not only result in higher poverty rates but also may cause irreversible damage to the human capital of the poor. In light of this evidence, the author concludes that crisis avoidance and a pro-poor response to crisis should be a major component of a poverty reduction strategy. As a result, the paper analyses the role of exchange rate p…
The Pink Tide and Income Inequality in Latin America
Latin American countries experienced a significant reduction in income inequality at the turn of the twenty-first century. From the early 2000s to around 2012, the average Gini coefficient fell from 0.51 to 0.47. The period of falling inequality coincided with leftist presidential candidates achieving electoral victories across the region: by 2009, 11 of the 17 countries had a leftist president-the so-called Pink Tide. Using a difference-in-diffe…
Multidimensional indices of achievements and poverty
North American Free Trade
This study features six essays which review the available literature on the effects of NAFTA on growth, employment, income distribution, specific industries, and agriculture in the three countries, as well as the implications for the world trading system and non-NAFTA countries
Intergenerational transmission of lockdown consequences
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10888-021-09501-x
The United States to the rescue
This article analyses the financial rescue measures taken by the United States in the Mexican payments crises of August 1982 and January 1995. On both occasions, Mexico was on the brink of suspending payments on its external debt, and both times this was avoided thanks to rescue measures. The implications of the two financial rescue programmes were very different, however. The measures taken in August 1982 were followed by a period of many years …
Life is not Easy
In the wake of the debt crisis in 1982, Mexico adopted far reaching reforms but growth and stability remained elusive for many years. At present, the reforms and NAFTA seem to be finally paying off: inflation for 2000 is close to 10 percent and output per capita grew at an average of 5.4 percent during the last five years. However, altogether output per capita was only 9 percent higher in 1999 than in 1980, a great disappointment for particularly…
Characteristics of mexican economic growth
Female Employment, Occupational Status, and Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Family in Mexico
Introduction to the Special Issue on Global Poverty Lines
"Las reformas económicas, las políticas de estabilizacion y el "síndrome mexicano
Condición de actividad y posición ocupacional de la mujer, y características socioeconómicas de la familia en México
Los estudios acerca de la participación femenina en la actividad económica remunerada en México realizados hasta la fecha, ponen de manifiesto una serie de aspectos importantes sobre el trabajo remunerado de la mujer. De 1930 a 1970, el empleo total en México aumentó en un 252%, la fuerza de trabajo masculina se expandió en una 214 % y la femenina creció en un 1034%. Como proporción del empleo total, la fuerza de trabajo femenina se cuadruplicó d…
Cambio agrario y crecimiento demográfico
En una perspectiva histórica, los cambios demográficos han estado asociados a los cambios en las condiciones sociales y económicas y al desarrollo cultural. Por lo tanto, se consideró conveniente realizar estudios adicionales sobre los aspectos que relacionan los cambios demográficos con los cambios en las condiciones rurales en diferentes contextos socioeconómicos. La organización del Seminario respondió al interés por obtener conocimientos más …
Algunos aspectos teóricos sobre la distribución del ingreso
El interés de este trabajo es: primero, ordenar algunas ideas sobre el tema de la distribución personal del ingreso en relación con algunos conceptos manejados en la teoría económica tales como el bienestar y la eficiencia; segundo, discutir con brevedad cómo la teoría económica explica (o más bien no explica), la formación de la distribución personal del ingreso, y por último, hacer una incursión somera en algunos enfoques que tratan de desarrol…
Michael Bleaney. Underconsumption theories
MICHAEL BLEANEY, Under consumption Theories: A History and Criticai Analysis, Nueva York, International Publishers, 1976
Condición de actividad y posición ocupacional de la mujer, y características socioeconómicas de la familia en México
Los estudios acerca de la participación femenina en la actividad económica remunerada en México realizados hasta la fecha, ponen de manifiesto una serie de aspectos importantes sobre el trabajo remunerado de la mujer. De 1930 a 1970, el empleo total en México aumentó en un 252%, la fuerza de trabajo masculina se expandió en una 214 % y la femenina creció en un 1034%. Como proporción del empleo total, la fuerza de trabajo femenina se cuadruplicó d…
Una crítica al modelo subconsumista de Paul Sweezy y perspectivas para una reformulación
Dentro de las teorías marxistas sobre la crisis del sistema capitalista sé pueden distinguir dos grandes corrientes: 1) aquellas que basan su argumento en la tendencia creciente de la composición orgánica del capital; y, 2) las que sitúan el origen de las crisis en la esfera de la realización. Dentro de este último grupo destacan las teorías del subconsumo. Las teorías del subconsumo se dividen a su vez en dos: aquellas que consideran el centro d…
Reconsideración sobre la crítica al modelo formal de subconsumo de Paul Sweezy
En el artículo titulado “Una crítica al modelo subconsumista de Sweezy y perspectivas para una reformulación” que fue publicado en el número 38 de esta revista, sostengo que la formulación del modelo formal que Sweezy introduce en su Teoría del Desarrollo Capitalista no permite demostrar la tesis que el subconsumo lleva siempre a una situación de estancamiento. Esto ocurre porque – en función de las ecuaciones del modelo- puede llegar a suceder q…
Female Employment, Occupational Status, and Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Family in Mexico
Distribución del ingreso y consumo de alimentos en México
El objetivo central de este trabajo es obtener una caracterización de la estructura actual del consumo de alimentos, en relación a la distribución familiar del ingreso y estimar la redistribución necesaria para garantizar un nivel de alimentación adecuado, para la población que actualmente ingiere una dieta inferior a la recomendada. La necesidad de implementar políticas de carácter redistributivo para incrementar el consumo de alimentos de las f…
Characteristics of mexican economic growth
Distribución del ingreso y consumo de alimentos
En este trabajo se presenta una descripción de la distribución del ingreso a nivel nacional y regional, en función del salario mínimo pertinente. En segundo lugar, se hace una caracterización del grupo de bajos ingresos en función de otras variables tales como la actividad y posición en la ocupación del jefe de grupo familiar, con el fin de indagar cuál es la inserción en la estructura productiva de estos grupos. En tercer lugar, se analiza la es…
Un análisis de políticas de consumo alimentario en equilibrio parcial y equilibrio general
Terms of trade and class conflict in a computable general equilibrium model for Mexico
A computable general equilibrium model for Mexico is constructed in which class conflict over the distribution of the surplus is the principal determinant of the terms of trade. The model consists of seven social classes and eight productive sectors. Classes are distinguished as ‘fundamental’ or ‘subsumed’ according to whether their incomes are primarily determined by conscious class struggle or by the resulting system of relative prices. Flexibl…
Economic crisis, adjustment and living standards in Mexico, 1982–85
North American Free Trade
This study features six essays which review the available literature on the effects of NAFTA on growth, employment, income distribution, specific industries, and agriculture in the three countries, as well as the implications for the world trading system and non-NAFTA countries
New Issues on the Nafta Front
Under review here is a single-author work and four collections comprising no less than 48 contributions by some 61 authors, not counting commentators and panel discussants. This richness is but a small indication of the unflagging interest the North American Free Trade Agreement (nafta) has spawned among academics, researchers, and analysts. If nothing else, nafta has certainly proven that interactive and integrative forces do carry with them int…
Prospects for growth and the environment in Mexico in the 1990s
Coping with Austerity
The United States to the rescue
This article analyses the financial rescue measures taken by the United States in the Mexican payments crises of August 1982 and January 1995. On both occasions, Mexico was on the brink of suspending payments on its external debt, and both times this was avoided thanks to rescue measures. The implications of the two financial rescue programmes were very different, however. The measures taken in August 1982 were followed by a period of many years …
"Las reformas económicas, las políticas de estabilizacion y el "síndrome mexicano
Social Protection for Equity and Growth
The objective of this book is to provide policy recommendations to reduce the economic vulnerability of the poor to adverse shocks and help them cope with income downturns. The authors suggest that, social equity arguments aside, insuring the poor is desirable in terms of economic efficiency. Both theory and evidence suggests that risk-averse individuals who are unable to insure will select low-risk and low-return survival strategies. In terms of…
Crises and the Poor
This paper presents evidence on the impact of economic crisis on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Crises not only result in higher poverty rates but also may cause irreversible damage to the human capital of the poor. In light of this evidence, the author concludes that crisis avoidance and a pro-poor response to crisis should be a major component of a poverty reduction strategy. As a result, the paper analyses the role of exchange rate p…
Life is not Easy
In the wake of the debt crisis in 1982, Mexico adopted far reaching reforms but growth and stability remained elusive for many years. At present, the reforms and NAFTA seem to be finally paying off: inflation for 2000 is close to 10 percent and output per capita grew at an average of 5.4 percent during the last five years. However, altogether output per capita was only 9 percent higher in 1999 than in 1980, a great disappointment for particularly…
Rising Inequality in Mexico
We use an empirical framework to identify the contributions of microeconomic factors to the sharp rise in household (per capita) income inequality in Mexico between 1984 and 1994. Results indicate that changes in returns to household characteristics, in particular changes in returns to education, are responsible for about half of the increase in the Gini coefficient. The deteriorating conditions in rural areas relative to the urban areas and of t…
The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics in East Asia and Latin America
This volume presents a collection of \n studies on the dynamics of income inequality based on micro \n data. Using a simple but powerful empirical methodology, the \n authors analyze the roles of prices, occupational choice, \n and educational choice in accounting for household income \n and its contribution to inequality. It casts doubt on the \n grand theories of growth and income inequality that have \n dominated discussions in development eco…
The Rise and Fall of Income Inequality in Latin America
This chapter documents the pattern of the rise and fall of income inequality in Latin America and comments on some plausible explanatory factors. After an overview of the regional trends and comparisons with other regions of the world, it focuses on three countries for which substantial analysis is available: Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. The second section is an overview of the main characteristics and patterns of Latin America's income distrib…
Economics (41 works) · Political science (39 works) · Income, Poverty, and Inequality (28 works) · Development economics (27 works) · Inequality (23 works) · Economic growth (20 works) · Latin Americans (20 works) · Economic Theory and Policy (19 works) · Poverty (16 works) · Demographic economics (14 works)