Based on the standard axiom of individual utility maximization, rational choice has postulated that higher income inequality translates into greater redistribution by shaping the median voter’s preferences. While numerous papers have tested this proposition, the literature has remained divided...

Discusses which countries have low and which have high Gini coefficients as well as relationships with the incomes of the poor and the rich.

Covers trend from 1990 to 1998.

Reviews the liberalization experience of Bolivia and Chile during the 1990s and argues that the IMF structural reform policy package had serious shortcomings.