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Reconstructing labor income shares in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, 1870-2000*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2010

Ewout Frankema
Ewout Frankema*
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities, Utrecht University, Drift 10, 3512 BS, Utrecht, The Netherlands. [email protected]
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Abstract

The labor income share in national income is a good indicator of the extent to which the working classes are able to reap the fruits of economic growth or, conversely, bear the burden of economic stagnation. This paper aims to reconstruct the labor income share of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico in a three-sector framework, including the rural, the urban formal and the urban informal sectors. We find that in all three countries the share of labor earnings peaked in the middle of the 20th century. Fluctuations in the Brazilian and Mexican labor income shares were large, with a sharp decline in the post-1961 and post-1976 periods, respectively. In Argentina, the labor income shares tended to be more constant at levels around 50 per cent, testifying to a more stable and egalitarian distribution of income.

Resumen

La cuota del ingreso del trabajo en la renta nacional es un buen indicador sobre el grado en el que las clases trabajadoras han sido capaces de beneficiarse de los frutos del creciminto económico o, al contrario, sufrir la carga del estancamiento. Este artículo tiene como objetivo reconstruir la cuota del ingreso del trabajo en Argentina, Brasil y México en un contexto de tres sectores, incluyendo el rural, el formal urbano y el informal urbano. Se aprecia que en los tres países la cuota del ingreso del trabajo llega a su máximo hacia mitad del siglo XX. Las fluctuaciones de este ingreso en el caso de Brasil y México fueron muy amplias, con un declive muy agudo en el periodo posterior a 1961 y 1971 respectivamente. En Argentina estas cuotas del ingreso del trabajo tendieron a ser más constantes y mantuvieron niveles cercanos al 50 por ciento, demostrando una distribución de la renta más estable e igualitaria.

Keywords

income distributionlabor incomeLatin America19th century20th centuryArgentinaBrazilMexicoE64N16N36distribución de la rentarenta del trabajoLatinoaméricasiglo XIXsiglo XXArgentinaBrasilMéxico
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 28 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on Latin American Inequality , September 2010 , pp. 343 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2010

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