Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The responsible for dictating policies, sometimes choose a path were they put in second plan
the problematic of inequality which is intrinsically connected with other complex realities such
as poverty. The conception is that income distribution in the long run will remain constant, so
the best way to increase the life conditions of the population is betting in economic growth
because there is not a plain relation among economic growth and inequality.
The aim of the study performed in this thesis was to understand the correlation among
inequality and economic growth. Does economic growth lead to a better situation of the
population in a homogeneous way indeed? Or do those benefits not reach the entire
population? A quantitative method was applied in this study in order to gather results and
responses. The analysis was based on statistical measures of Pearson’s correlation derived
from data of Gini Index and GDP indicators, since they are both able to represent the equity in
distribution of income and economic growth respectively. The group of countries in which the
analysis was performed was the Latin America.
The results indicate that, if in one hand it was not proved a direct and undoubted connection
among economic growth and a raise on inequality, on the other hand it was not proven that
they are completely independent either. The fairest way to look at this problem is not the
impact of economic growth on inequality and the other way around but how those economic
growth policies are chosen and their impact on the society.