ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse the forces behind economic inequality in Latin America and their connection to the processes of financialisation. The analysis of the link between the experiences of financialisation and high levels of inequality in Latin America is important because it highlights the structural forces behind the unequal distribution of wealth and income in the region. The processes of financialisation have also been observed in Europe, albeit to a varying extent and at different points in time in various countries. In Latin America, financialisation processes have taken the form of rising inflows of portfolio and direct investments throughout the 1990s to serve financial sector expansion and privatisation. The impact of financialisation on inequality is particularly vivid in the USA. The motivation to examine the distributive consequences of financialisation in the Latin American context arises from the fact that Latin America has had one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world.
