How Brazil’s richest 10 percent contributes to country’s inequality

Brazil is one of the world’s most unequal country. Its top 1 percent of wealthy individuals concentrates more revenue than anywhere else. The six wealthiest people in Brazil (all white males) have the net worth of 100 million poorer Brazilians combined. However, taking percentages of total revenue in a country does not tell the whole story. New research by Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Research could help us make a step forward.

Using a methodology reasonably new to the Brazilian socioeconomic literature, three researchers decided to measure how much each social group is responsible for the country’s inequality.

According to their findings, Brazil’s top 10 percent richer alone is responsible for 51.5 percent of Brazil’s income gap – which is more than in other countries. In the U.S., the responsibility of the top 10 percent for inequality is 45 percent, in Germany, it is 44 percent,...