Nora Lustig Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American

EconomicsDept. of Economics, Tulane UniversityNonresident Fellow, Center for Global

Development and Inter-American Dialogue

Washington, DC, February 28, 2011

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Investing in early childhood Improving school qualityAddressing youth at risk Improving labor markets and

extending coverage of social securityAddressing the double burden of the

health transition Improving CCTs and other anti-

poverty programsFostering social inclusion

In addition to the inequality and poverty trends, education gaps, youth at risk, health burdens:

Growth and growth prospects for the region; heterogeneity (commodity importers vs. commodity exporters)

Demographic transition Fiscal space Challenges: rising food prices, climate

change (systemic adverse shocks), water scarcity

Lending programNon-lending activities

Knowledge and information: creation and sharing

What about: Advisory services and technical assistance:

what role will they play? Raising public awareness: should it be part

of the strategy? Providing support to local agents of change:

should it be part of the strategy?

1. Declining inequality: sustaining the momentum

2. The challenge of rising food prices

3. Assessing fiscal policy’s contribution to equity goals

4. Improving quality and accessibility of data

5. Promote accountability and transparency

Labor market dynamics (Goldin and Katz, 2008; Schady et al., 2010)

Relationship between growth patterns and declining inequality

Why is inequality rising in some countries?

Indirect impact of CCTs on local economies

Assessing the contribution of fiscal policy to poverty and inequality reduction

Improving access to post basic secondary education; supply/demand side interventions?

Safety net design: counter-cyclical and responsive to shocks. In particular, what to do with rising food prices?

Increase progressivity of tax-and-transfer system

Household surveys are still deficient: urban areas only, not comparable over time, not comparable across countries, egregious misreporting, do not include information on taxes and transfers => back to “old” MECOVI

IDB’s online databank of household surveys

IDB’s online data on poverty and inequality (join forces with SEDLAC/WB?)

Best practices in accessibility to information (e.g., household surveys and tax return data by OECD countries)

Best practices in institutionalizing objective poverty and inequality measuring and evaluation of social policy and programs (e.g., CONEVAL? )

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