capture different aspects of people's opportunity sets, for which observed income may be a poor proxy. One implication is that … the cross-country literature on income inequality and growth may have been barking up the wrong tree, and that alternative …

"Measured by the Gini coefficient, income inequality in Brazil rose from 0.57 in 1981 to 0.63 in 1989, before falling …). Poverty incidence also followed an inverted U-curve over the past quarter century, rising from 0.30 in 1981 to 0.33 in 1993 … social assistance transfers targeted to the poor; and a possible decline in racial inequality. Although poverty dynamics …