The combination of stagnant growth and high levels of income inequality renewed the debate about whether a more even distribution of income can spur economic activity. This paper tests for cross-country convergence in income inequality and estimates its impact on economic growth with a...

Output gap estimates are subject to a wide range of uncertainty owing to data revisions and the difficulty in distinguishing between cycle and trend in real time. This is important given the central role in monetary policy of assessments of economic activity relative to capacity. We show that...

Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. BRAZIL'S LONG-TERM GROWTH PERFORMANCE IN A CROSS-COUNTRY CONTEXT -- III. ASSESSING BRAZIL'S GROWTH PERFORMANCE IN A DYNAMIC PANEL MODEL -- IV. DISSECTING BRAZIL'S GROWTH DETERMINANTS -- V. CONCLUSIONS -- APPENDICES -- I. TABLE. SALA-I-MARTIN'S LIST OF 21...

This paper assesses Brazil''s growth performance from a long-term perspective, using crosscountry and panel estimation techniques, building on the vast empirical literature on growth. The empirical evidence presented in this paper confirms that macroeconomic stability and several reforms have...