Mexico and Brazil have a lot in common. They are the two largest Latin American countries and the continent's main emerging markets. A big difference, however, is that Mexico collects 13 per cent of its GDP in taxes, compared with Brazil's 21 per cent, a figure that hits a record 36 per cent...

"Did independence push Latin America down a growth-inequality trade-off? During the late colonial decades, the region completed two centuries of growth unmatched anywhere and inequality reached spectacular heights. During the half century after insurgency and independence, inequality fell...

Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy hold to a pessimistic belief in historical persistence -- they believe that Latin America has always had very high levels of inequality, suggesting it will be hard for modern social policy to create a more egalitarian society. This paper argues...