Latin America's Emerging Middle Classes: Economic Perspectives(International Political Economy Series)

Politicians, business leaders and citizens look with hope to the Latin American middle class for political stability and purchasing power, but the economic position of the middle class remains vulnerable. The contributors document the remarkable emergence of this middle group in Latin America, whose measurement turns out not to be an easy task.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Making Sense of Latin America's Middle Class; J. Dayton-Johnson 2. Inequality, Mobility and Middle Classes in Latin America; J. Azevedo, L.F. López -Calva, N. Lustig, E. Ortiz-Juárez 3. Latin America's Global Middle Class: A Preference for Growth Over Equality; M. Cárdenas, H. Kharas and C. Henao 4. Brazil's New Middle Classes: The Bright Side of the Poor; M. Neri 5. Who is the Latin American Middle Class? Relative-Income and Multidimensional Approaches; F. Castellani, G. Parent, and J. Zenteno Gonzales 6. Covering the Uncovered: Labor Informality, Pensions and the Emerging Middle Class in Latin America; C. Daude, J.R. de Laiglesia, Á. Melguizo 7. Business Sector Responses to the Rise of the Middle Class; L. Casanova and H. Renck 8. Feeling Middle Class and Being Middle Class; What Do Subjective Perceptions Tell Us?; E. Lora and J. Fajardo González 9. Political Attitudes of the Middle Class; The Case of Fiscal Policy, C. Daude, H. Gutiérrez, Á. Melguizo

About the Author :
João Pedro Azevedo, World Bank Poverty Global Practice Mauricio Cárdenas, Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, Colombia Lourdes Casanova, Cornell University, USA Francesca Castellani, Inter-American Development Bank, USA Christian Daude, OECD Economics Directorate Juan Ramón De Laiglesia, International Labour Office Johanna Fajardo González, University of Minnesota, USA Hamlet Gutiérrez, General Directorate of Internal Revenue, Dominican Republic Camila Henao Arbeláez, University of Illinois, USA Homi Kharas, Brookings Institution, USA Luis Felipe López-Calva, World Bank Eduardo Lora, Harvard University, USA Nora Lustig, Tulane University, USA Ángel Melguizo, OECD Development Center Marcelo Neri, Brazilian Cabinet, Brazil Eduardo Ortiz-Juárez, UNDP's Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and Tulane University, USA Gwenn Parent, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Henrique Renck eCornell Jannet Zenteno Gonzales, National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia

Review :
"The contributors to Dayton-Johnson's volume are a mix of economists working in government, academia, and international organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Readers will be interested in their research findings regarding the growth of the middle class since 2000 and related questions. The editor's introduction includes a clear explanation of the various income-based definitions." (Dennis Gilbert, Latin American Research Review, Vol. 51 (1), 2016)