The Rise of China and the Decline in Inequality

Abstract

In this chapter we look at two of the major phenomena of the twenty-first century in Latin America. One is the impact of the growing Chinese economy and the resulting Commodity Supercycle. The second is the falling level of poverty, the growth of the middle class, and the decline in income inequality. In order to understand these events, we introduce the Gini coefficient and discuss the rise of leftist governments and new forms of government redistribution policies.