This paper combines results
from a newly available international, cross-section consumption analysis,
with earnings data from household surveys from Brazil and Chile, to analyze
the implications of multilateral trade liberalization for impoverished households
in these two countries. Emphasis throughout this paper is on the short run,
during which capital and self-employed labor are sector-specific, with wage
labor being the only mobile factor of production. We find aggregate poverty
is reduced in both Brazil and Chile. However, while the agriculture-specialized
populations in both countries experience a large reduction in poverty, the
non-agriculture profits-specialized and wage-labor households experience
increases in poverty. |
Abstract |