Photo: Jeremy Wong
It’s certainly not news that Brazil is haunted by obscene inequality. Yet each time new data comes forward on just how unequal our country is, we can’t help but feel appalled. A recent study published by the World Wealth and Income Database (a think tank directed by the renowned French economist Thomas Piketty) reveals that Brazil’s richest actually earn more money than they do in France. Yikes.
According to the study, called Extreme and Persistent Inequality: New Evidence for Brazil and led by economist Marc Morgan, Brazil’s top 1 percent earns $541,000/year against France’s $450-500,000. By the way, this top 1 percent is formed by roughly 1.4 million Brazilians – and that’s in a country with 207 million people. The “rest” of the Brazilian public lives on an average of $19,500 per year.
Morgan focuses his study on the 2001-2015 period. He explains:
“The last fifteen years in Brazil are an interesting period to study because it is when Brazilian economic growth picked up again after having been through a stagnant...
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