Effects of growth and reduction of income inequality on poverty in Northeastern Brazil, 2003-2008

Abstract

This article aimed to investigate the main determinants of individual income inequality and analyze the characteristics of the interrelation among poverty, inequality and economic growth for the states of the Northeast region of Brazil, from 2003 to 2008. For that, we used decompositions based on the Shapley value. The results show that growth was the main factor leading to the drop in the number of poor and indigents (extremely poor). In addition, the most important factors to explain the level of individual income inequality in the Northeastern states are education level and professional experience.