Poverty and Inequality Implications of Fiscal Policies : The Case of Brazil / Gabriel Lara Ibarra [and three others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ibarra, Gabriel Lara, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (34 pages)

Other Title:

Poverty and Inequality Implications of Fiscal Policies

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023.

Summary:

This paper investigates the impacts of the Brazilian fiscal system on poverty and inequality, with a focus on the effects on vulnerable populations. Leveraging a broadly applied and accepted methodology and several household surveys and administrative data, the paper shows that Brazilian fiscal policies in 2019 were typically poverty- and inequality-reducing, but with a large heterogeneity in the effectiveness of fiscal tools. The poverty impacts of fiscal policies increased over time due to direct transfers. Income inequality reduction is among the highest in a comparable set of middle-income countries, yet the post-fiscal Gini is still high at 0.521. The results indicate that elderly people are the largest beneficiaries of the fiscal system and households with children experience a smaller decline in poverty from government transfers compared to those with no children. At the individual level, the findings also show that children and young adolescents (ages 0-15) were made poorer after taxes and transfers, which suggests that Brazilian fiscal policies in 2019 also increased poverty rates for some population groups. These findings contribute to provide a comprehensive overview of the fiscal system in Brazil and have wide-ranging consequences for the formulation of public policies.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Publisher Number:

10.1596/1813-9450-10495