Multiple crises scrub out a decade of inequality reduction in Brazil

A study by NGO Oxfam Brasil claims that the pandemic has not disturbed the wealth of Brazil’s billionaires. In fact, the 42 individuals who make up the top 0.00002 percent of the country actually improved their net worth by a combined USD 34 billion. Meanwhile, the rest of Brazil is heading into a lost decade in the economy, meaning that an entire generation of Brazilians will never reach their potential peak, as we at The Brazilian Report have shown.

But with new data being collected, analyzed, and used as the base for scientific studies, Brazilians are getting an even more comprehensive view of this crisis. A recent paper by researchers from the University of São Paulo and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) has disclosed the story of Brazilian inequality and poverty between 2012 and 2019. And the outcomes found by Rogério Barbosa, Pedro Ferreira de Souza, and Serguei Soares corroborate the lost decade hypothesis.

Those conclusions are not apparent in families’ average income because, over the decade, the economic gains and losses were spread unevenly. All the data used by the researchers come from the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), the broadest and most reputable of its kind in the country.

The data shows the snapshot of the economic situation before the coronavirus crisis hit the country. Indeed, understanding the 2010s decade in Brazil requires the comprehension of two distinct periods before and after 2015. In the first half, the economy had grown, unemployment rates were low, and inequality and poverty had fallen. But from 2015 onward, everything changed.

The recession in Brazil lasted from Q2 2015 all the way up until the end of 2016. According to the study, while the richest families saw some improvements of 2016, the poorest segments of the population continued to suffer the negative...