ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the income distribution in Brazil from 1960 to 1996. It discusses the main limitations of income data. The chapter summarizes the evolution of income distribution in Brazil from 1960 to 1980. It analyzes the income distribution among economically active persons from 1979 to 1996, showing the effects of economic crisis, stagnation, inflation and its control and resumption of growth on inequality and poverty. The chapter shows the regional and sectoral contrasts using data on earnings of occupied persons in 1995. It estimates earnings equations for Brazil and the economic sectors, evaluating the influence of education, gender, position on occupation and other factors on personal earnings by the same data. The chapter analyzes income data that come from Census or Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios, a sample survey carried out annually by IBGE, the Brazilian national statistical office.
