Earnings inequalities and educational mobility in Brazil over two decades

Changes in educational opportunities in Brazil: how does it impact on definitions of labour market inequalities?

This paper studies the impact of changes in educational opportunities on various definitions of labour market inequalities in Brazil over two decades (1976-96). Using four editions of the nationally representative PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios) survey, the authors analyse the evolution of overall inequalities and inequalities of opportunity in 40-49 year old males’ earnings.

The paper found that:

the decompositions show that changes in the distribution of education contributed to the increase in both overall earnings inequalities and inequalities of opportunity among the oldest generations, before sharply reducing them among the post-WWII cohorts
the decrease in returns to education also contributed to equalising labour market opportunities in the 1988-96 period
the changes in educational mobility were not large enough to significantly affect earnings inequalities, whereas it is shown that they should play a prominent role in equalising opportunities in the future.

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Earnings inequalities and educational mobility in Brazil over two decades