OECD Development Centre Working Papers

ISSN :
1815-1949 (en ligne)
DOI :
10.1787/18151949
Cacher / Voir l'abstract
The OECD Development Centre links OECD members with developing and emerging economies and fosters debate and discussion to seek creative policy solutions to emerging global issues and development challenges. This series of working papers is intended to disseminate the OECD Development Centre’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned. These papers are generally available in the original English or French, with a summary in the other language.
 

Being "Middle-Class" in Latin America You or your institution have access to this content

Auteur(s):
Francesca Castellani, Gwenn Parent
Date de publication
20 oct 2011
Bibliographic information
N°:
305
Pages
45
DOI
10.1787/5kg3jcdx4jlx-en

Cacher / Voir l'abstract

This paper joins the debate on the size of the middle class in Latin America, analysing its structure and characteristics. The paper investigates inter-class mobility potential and its evolution over time in the case of selected countries. As a result of the estimations, we find that Latin American countries have smaller middle classes than OECD countries. Moreover, this comparison shows that, while middle-class upward mobility potential is not very different, middle class resilience is higher in OECD countries. This suggests that particular attention should be paid to mitigating the impact of economic reversal on middle-class families, as they are more vulnerable to falling into poverty. This analysis provides a tool to identify the features of the middle class that need to be promoted by policy makers to foster middle-class resilience and enhance its stabilising role in society.
Mots-clés:
resilience, inequality, vulnerability, middle class, Latin America, social mobility
Classification JEL:
  • I32: Health, Education, and Welfare / Welfare and Poverty / Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
  • O10: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / General
  • O12: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development