Pedro Herculano Guimarães Ferreira de Souza

A estabilidade da desigualdade de renda no Brasil, 2006 a 2012: estimativa com dados do imposto de renda e pesquisas domiciliares

OBJECT the level and evolution of income inequality among adults in Brazil between 2006 and 2012. OBJECTIVES to calculate the level of inequality, its trend over the years and the share of income growth appropriated by different social groups. METHODOLOGY We combined tax data from the Annual Personal Income Tax Returns (Declaração Anual de Ajuste do Imposto de Renda da Pessoa Física - DIRPF) and the Brazilian National Household Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD) to construct a complete distribution of total income among adults in Brazil. We applied Pareto interpolations to income tax tabulations to arrive at the distribution within income groups. We tested the results, comparing the PNAD to the Brazilian Consumption and Expenditure Survey (Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares - POF) and to data from the Census Subsample Survey (Census. RESULTS We found evidence that income inequality in Brazil is higher than previously thought and that it remained stable between 2006 and 2012; in making these findings, we thus diverged from most studies on the dynamics of inequality in Brazil.. There was income growth, but the top incomes have appropriated most of this growth.Object: the level and evolution of income inequality among adults in Brazil between 2006 and 2012.Objectives: to calculate the level of inequality, its trend over the years and the share of income growth appropriated by different social groups.Methodology: We combined tax data from the Annual Personal Income Tax Returns (Declaracao Anual de Ajuste do Imposto de Renda da Pessoa Fisica - DIRPF) and the Brazilian National Household Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios - PNAD) to construct a complete distribution of total income among adults in Brazil. We applied Pareto interpolations to income tax tabulations to arrive at the distribution within income groups. We tested the results, comparing the PNAD to the Brazilian Consumption and Expenditure Survey (Pesquisa de Orcamentos Familiares - POF) and to data from the Census Subsample Survey (Census.Results: We found evidence that income inequality in Brazil is higher than previously thought and that it remained stable between 2006 and 2012; in making these findings, we thus diverged from most studies on the dynamics of inequality in Brazil.. There was income growth, but the top incomes have appropriated most of this growth.

Estrutura de Classes, Educação e Queda da Desigualdade de Renda (2002-2011)

This paper aims to reconcile the role ascribed to education as a major cause of the recent reduction in inequality in Brazil with a class analysis framework. A series of univariate and multivariate inequality decompositions were carried out, including the between-group/within-group decomposition of the GE(0) index and the regression-based decomposition suggested by Fields (2003). Our results show that a) whereas the class structure composition was relatively stable between 2002 and 2011, the educational composition changed dramatically; b) inequality between classes accounts for a larger fraction of total inequality than inequality between educational groups; and c) when class and education are analyzed simultaneously, the fraction of total inequality explained by education falls abruptly, while the relative share of class inequality remains constant. Thus, educational improvement was apparently much more important for the reduction in inequality than changes in the other dimensions captured by class structure.

Diferencial salarial público-privado e desigualdade de renda per capita no Brasil

We estimate the contribution of the wage differential between workers with the same attributes in the public and private sectors to the household per capita income inequality in Brazil. The estimate is based on counterfactual simulations and the contribution to inequality on a factor decomposition of the Gini coefficient. Data comes from the Brazilian National Household Survey PNAD 2009. The differential corresponds approximately to 17% of the wage bill of workers in the public sector, is regressive and highly concentrated. However, because it amounts to a small share of the total income (1%) its contribution to the total inequality is of 3%. The sector composition effects on inequality are times higher than the segmentation (price) effects. These conclusions are robust to changes in the definition of the sectors and to different estimation techniques.

Estado e desigualdade de renda no Brasil: fluxos de rendimentos e estratificação social

The authors examine the contribution of public transfers and direct taxes to income inequality in Brazil. We apply a factor decomposition of the Gini to the POF 2008-9 data to measure the contribution to inequality of direct taxation, wages of public and private sector workers, cash transfers, pensions and other incomes. State payments worsen income inequality but not all State actions are regressive. Wages and pensions for current and retired public sector workers have profound inequality-generating effects, whereas direct taxation and welfare transfers are pro-poor, although their positive influence is limited. The net contribution of all direct monetary flows between the State and individuals is regressive and contributes to approximately one third of the inequality in per capita net income.

Os impactos da geração de empregos sobre as desigualdades de renda: uma análise da década de 2000

Income and earnings inequality have fallen consistently in Brazil in the last 20 years. In this article, we intend to understand how these trends are associated with the countrys occupational structure, an overlooked dimension in the Brazilian debate concerning the theme. Our discussion starts with a detailed analysis of the pattern and quality of the jobs created between 2002 and 2012 in the country. This discussion draws the background to the following theme we address, which is the earnings inequality trend in the same period. We scrutinize the trends in two different ways. The first is a decomposition our chosen inequality index year by year. Second, we put into focus only the inequality decrease and how it is associated with the occupational component and other characteristics such as race, gender, region and education. Our results highlight the importance of the occupational structure, with its between and within occupations components accounting for more than half of the inequality observed in each year. Despite this importance, the occupational structure has a minor influence in relation to the fall of inequality, which is more associated with changes related to education. These results show that the significant changes that occurred in the Brazilian labor market in the last ten years were not associated with changes in the occupational structure. We demonstrate that differences between and within occupations have remained stable. Our results and analyses contribute in a non trivial way to highlight the structural quality income inequality in Brazil, pointing to the institutional factors associated with it through a sociological interpretation.

Uma metodologia para explicar diferenças entre dados administrativos e pesquisas amostrais, com aplicação para o Bolsa Família e o Benefício de Prestação Continuada na PNAD

Estimates based on household surveys often differ considerably from administrative records. In the National Household Sample Surveys (PNADs) of the Brazilian Statistics Department, the estimated number of beneficiaries of the Family Allowance (Bolsa Familia) Program (PBF), and of beneficiaries of the Continuous Cash Benefit (Beneficio de Prestacao Continuada) Program (BPC) is always lower than official figures. This paper presents a simple methodology, based on the sampling design of household surveys, to explain these differences, by decomposing them into three terms: the representativeness bias (derived from the choice of places, census tracts or municipalities for the survey); the data collection bias (derived from data collection problems at the chosen sites); and the interaction between them. The application of this methodology to the present cases shows that the representativeness bias of the PBF accounts for 40% of the difference between official records and the PNAD. For the BPC, the representativeness bias tends to act in the opposite direction. That is, In other words, the data collection bias is entirely responsible for the observed difference. Also, the erroneous reporting of the BPC as a Social Security benefit on the PNAD seems to have occurred mostly in the years prior to 2004, and does not entirely explain the low number of beneficiaries identified in the PNADs.

The State and income inequality in Brazil

Using a factor decomposition of the Gini coefficient we measure the contribution to inequality of direct monetary income flows to and from the Brazilian State. The income flows from the State include public servants’ earnings, Social Security pensions, unemployment benefits and Social Assistance transfers. The income flows to the State comprise direct taxes and employees’ social security contributions. Data comes from the Brazilian POF 2008-9. The results indicate that the State contributes directly to a very large share of inequality. Factors associated to work in the public sector – wages and pensions – are very concentrated and regressive. Factors related to the private sector are still concentrated, but progressive. Contrary to what has been found in other countries, public spending with work and social policies is concentrated in the elites and, taken as a whole, tends to increase inequality. Redistributive mechanisms that could reverse this inequality, such as taxes and social assistance, are very progressive but proportionally small; consequently their effect is completely offset by the regressive income flows from the State. Por meio de uma decomposicao do coeficiente de Gini mede-se a contribuicao para a desigualdade dos fluxos diretos de rendimento de e para o Estado no Brasil. Os fluxos de rendimento do Estado incluem a renda dos trabalhadores no setor publico, aposentadorias e pensoes, seguro-desemprego e rendimentos associados e transferencias da assistencia social. Os fluxos de rendimento para o Estado incluem os impostos diretos e as contribuicoes previdenciarias. Os dados sao provenientes da Pesquisa de Orcamentos Familiares (POF) 2008-9. Os resultados indicam que o Estado contribui diretamente para uma grande parcela da desigualdade. As componentes associadas ao trabalho no setor publico – salarios, aposentadorias e pensoes – sao muito concentradas e regressivas. As componentes associadas ao setor privado tambem sao concentradas, porem progressivas. Contrariamente ao que ocorre em outros paises, o gasto publico com trabalho e politicas sociais e concentrado nas elites e, tomado em conjunto, tende a aumentar a desigualdade. Mecanismos redistributivos que poderiam reduzir a desigualdade, tais como os impostos diretos e a assistencia social, sao muito progressivos, porem proporcionalmente pequenos; consequentemente, seu efeito e completamente anulado pelos fluxos regressivos de rendimento do Estado.

Top Incomes in Brazil, 1933-2012: A Research Note

This research note presents estimates of top income shares for Brazil based on tax return data from 1933 to 2012, as well as a brief overview of personal income taxation in the country. I also discuss some of the major methodological challenges, especially pertaining to data availability, and contrast my preferred top incomes series with alternative possibilities as a robustness check. The main results do not suggest any clear-cut pattern towards rising or declining inequality over time. Income concentration at the top ebbs and flows at generally very high levels.

A Estabilidade Da Desigualdade No Brasil Entre 2006 E 2012: Resultados Adicionais (The Stability of Income Inequality in Brazil between 2006 and 2012: Additional Results)

Potuguese Abstract: Avalia-se em que medida a tendencia da desigualdade na distribuicao de rendimentos totais entre os adultos no Brasil de 2006 a 2012 e afetada pelas medidas de desigualdade utilizadas, fontes de dados, definicao de estratos e variaveis de ordenamento nas tabulacoes dos dados tributarios, subestimacao da base e metodologia de correcao da subestimacao do topo nas pesquisas amostrais. Conclui-se que a hipotese de estabilidade da desigualdade no Brasil encontra respaldo em evidencias empiricas. Diferentes dados e metodos levam resultados convergentes: nivel mais alto que medido nas pesquisas domiciliares, estabilidade e grande importância dos ricos para explicar o comportamento da desigualdade entre 2006 e 2012.English Abstract: We examine how inequality measures, data sources, income brackets, ranking variables of tabulated tax data, underestimation of incomes in the bottom of the distribution and the methodology used to correct inequality affects the trends of inequality in total income among adults in Brasil between 2006 and 2012. The existing evidence corroborates the hypothesis that inequaliy has remained stable. Different data and methods lead to converging results: level higher than that measured using household surveys, stability and large importance of the rich to explain inequality trends between 2006 and 2012.

A Estabilidade Da Desigualdade De Renda No Brasil, 2006 a 2012: Estimativa Com Dados Do Imposto De Renda E Pesquisas Domiciliares (The Stability in the Income Inequality in Brazil, 2006-2012: An Estimate with Tax and Survey Data)

Portuguese Abstract: Avaliamos o nivel e a evolucao da desigualdade de renda no Brasil por meio da combinacao de dados da declaracao de imposto de renda e das PNAD. Concluimos que a desigualdade de renda no pais e mais alta do que se estimava por pesquisas domiciliares e permaneceu muito estavel entre 2006 e 2012. Nossos resultados mostraram-se robustos a mudancas de metodologia e fontes de dados.English Abstract: We combine data from household surveys and tax records to examine the level and the evolution of the income distribution in Brazil. We conclude that income inequality in the country is higher than that estimated by household surveys, and remained stable between 2006 and 2012. Our results seem to be robust to changes in the methodology and to the use of different data sources.