ARTICLE ANALYSIS

Article Analysis

Article Analysis

Introduction

This is the article analysis which was published in “The economist” with the title “Brazil”.

Analysis

Brazil's Poverty Reduction

Over the past decade, during Lula's two terms in office, Brazil's growth rates have been matched by surprising reductions in inequality. 'Almost by stealth' one analyst wrote, 'Brazil seems to be experiencing a pro-poor spurt of growth': real incomes of the poor have risen sharply, and there has been a sharp reduction in absolute poverty.

Between 2001 and 2006, the poorest 10 per cent of Brazil's population experienced a 57 per cent per cent growth in real income. As Lula moved into his second term as president, the upward trend in incomes for poor Brazilians was unmistakeable: in 2006, the incomes of the poorest 50 per cent of Brazil's population grew at an annual rate of close to 12 per cent - much faster than the 7 per cent real rise in household incomes across all income brackets that year (Trebat 2009). While these measures focus on income, not wealth, the impact on the country's poorest households is indisputable. Since 2002, Brazil's growth has been marked by both a decline in the number of families living in poverty (FGV cited in Samuels, forthcoming), and a marked decline in inequality overall. In 1992, as Brazil entered its neoliberal phase, about 35 per cent of Brazil's households were estimated to be living in absolute poverty, earning less than about US$50 per month. Under Cardoso's administration, families living in poverty dropped to about 28 per cent, where it hovered through the next decade; after Lula came to power in 2003, however, the percentage of households living in poverty dropped by 19.2 per cent in three years, leaving about 22 per cent of Brazilian families living in absolute poverty.

These changes have a racial dimension, as ...