Class & Inequality
For Richer or Poorer: The capture of growth and politics in emerging economies
Uploaded by Oxfam
The emerging economies Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey – in short, the BRICSAMIT – have come to be considered the economic powerhouses of recent decades. Not only have these countries managed to reduce poverty
saveSave For Richer or Poorer: The capture of growth and po... For Later
THE CAPTURE OF GROWTH AND
POLITICS IN EMERGING ECONOMIES
Alice Krozeris a Doctoral Researcher at the Centre of Development Studies at the
University of Cambridge, where her research and teaching focus on questions of income
distribution and multi-dimensional inequalities.She has beenconsultant for the UN
Economic Commission for Latin America,Political Advisor to the Austrian Embassy in
Mexico, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Public Policy in
Argentina, as well as development practitioner in several Latin American countries.
Many people have helped improve this report throughout the different stages of the
research and writing process. I would like to thank particularly Gianandrea Nelli,
Meryem Aslan, Mariano De Donatis, Adhemar Mineiro, Pooja Parvati,Daria Ukho-
va,Nick Galasso, Urvashi Sarkar, Darmawan Triwibowo, Sugeng Bahagijo, Kevin Mei,
Chen Wu, Sibulele Poswayo, Carolina Maldonado, Rocio Stevens and Brisa Ceccon for
their most valuable comments. Many thanks also to Daniel Hernandez for the
wonderful graphic design, and Jane Garton for her excellent text editing. A very
special thanks to Thomas Dunmore Rodriguez, without whom this report would not
exist, for his kind support, constructive feedback and great enthusiasm from begin-
ning to end of the project.
As a coalition of civil society networks from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico,
Russia and South Africa, our aim is to ensure the voices of poor and marginalized
people in our countries are taken into account inglobal policy-making processes. We
encourage others leaders and governments from our nations, businesses, academ-
ics and fellow citizens to join us in taking a stand on the issue of inequality and the
negative impact it has on society.
India, Mumbai, Maharashtra. A modern office building being constructed behind an old crumbling residential area (2011).
Fredrik Naumann/ Panos Pictures
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The
contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way
be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
This report has been developed with the assistance of Oxfam in order to share research
results and to contribute to debate on development and humanitarian policy and
practice. The content and views expressed in this report are the responsibility of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of Oxfam.
1. THE NEED TO TACKLE INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 6
2. MAPPING ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 12
3. THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER 26
4. THE HIGH COSTS OF INEQUALITY 35
5. FIRST STEPS TO ADDRESS INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 43
Children play around a waste
water canal, Masephomolele
township, Cape Town. (2014)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zed Nelson/ Oxfam
The emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China,South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia
and Turkey henceforth the BRICSAMIT have come to beconsidered the economic
powerhouses of recent decades, fostering a narrative of the growth of the South.Not
only have these countries managed toreduce extreme poverty; most have embarked
on a steep economic growth path andplay an increasingly inuential role on
theglobal scene. But an emphasison growth masks another, worrying trend. Today,
all eight BRICSAMIT countriesoccupy the top ranks as some ofthe most unequal
countries inthe world. The price these countries andmillions of their citizens pay
for thisis high. Excessive inequality hampers development prospects: negatively
impacting growth potential, threatening poverty reduction,leading to mass migra-
tion ows and brain drain, and reducing opportunities for young people.
Inequality affectsall aspectsof a persons life andlife chances, from health and
education to living environment and prospects forold age. Extreme inequality
perpetuates high levels of violence and crime, fuels mistrust and undermines social
cohesion. It is now clear that the gains of economic growth in the BRICSAMIT have
been captured by the very richest. Fortunes have been made by large corporations
engaged primarily in theextractives, agribusiness, infrastructure, media and telecom-
munications sectors. The capture ofpower by economic elites, including companies,
drives inequality by ensuring the rules remain rigged infavour of the rich, whogrow
increasingly inuential.
This concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is clearly at the
expense of the many. It reinforces existing social structures, perpetuating inequality
and excluding millions of people from an equitable share in prosperity. Despite the
growth in thesenext-generation economic miracles, more than 2.3 billion people in
the BRICSAMIT are still living on less than U$5 a day. Civil society organizations have
long understood that inequality is abarrier to development. This is at last becoming
more widely recognized, as thelong-held theoryof the trickle down of wealth as
countries grow richer fails to become areality.Yet measures to tackle extreme
inequality are not high on the political agenda in most emerging economies; or are
effectively blocked by an alliance of the economic and political elites who have little
interest in changing the status quo.
This research paper which was commissioned by civil society networks across the
BRICSAMIT countries aims to increase the urgency to tackle the structural causes of
inequality by shedding light on the nature and scope of the issue in these countries,
and the economic, political and social consequences they are now facing as a result. It
looks at the conditions that enabled the rise of the super-rich and how political and
media capture by this elite is undermining democracy and thwarting most attempts
to reduce inequality. The paper concludes with recommendations of ways in which
growth and development could be usedto make our societies more equal.
Whilst we welcome the sustainable development goal related to reducing inequality,
we urge governments and leaders torecognize that reducing inequality is a deeply
political undertaking by which the vested interests of the existing elites will needto
be challenged. If developmental goals such as equal rights for all and an end to
poverty and gender discrimination are to be achieved, the debate must shift away
from growth at all costs to focus on achieving greater equality.
A regular day at a primary
health centre in Patna district,
Bihar, India (2015)
1. THE NEED TO TACKLE
Srikanth Kolari/ Oxfam India
INEQUALITY IN THE
BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
The BRICSAMIT countries have come to be considered the economic powerhouses of
the past decades, fostering a narrative of the forthcoming rise of the South. Not only
have they managed to reduce poverty; most have embarked on a steep economic
growth path. Their sheer physical and population size, share in world GDP, growing
political influence, economic weight, desire to expand activity on the world markets,
etc. have made the BRICSAMIT countries grow increasingly influential and increas-
ingly unequal.
However, inequality has largely been neglected in the developmental discourse of the
emerging economies, because it has generally not been perceived as an impediment
to development. As such, the mainstream economic theory of the past decades
predicted that once a course of economic growth was set upon, countries would
automatically grow their way out of poverty. The more productive parts of society
were to receive higher incomes first, so that the process of economic catching-up
with developed countriesi would come at an initially increasing level of inequality.
i The term developed countries is used throughout the report to describe wealthy industrialized nations
which rank high on the HDI index. Usage of this term is to facilitate comparison with other groups of
countries, such as the BRICSAMIT countries, and should not be understood as a statement on the
desirability of specific countries developmental model.
However so the theory goes this wealth accumulated in the high end of the
income distribution would later trickle down through the social strata to the remain-
der of the population. Eventually, then, this would raise living standards for all, at
which point inequality would start falling again. All in all, therefore, growth would be
progressive over time, and temporarily high inequality seemed like a fair price to pay
for future prosperity.1
Rising GDP and per capita incomes in the exemplary BRICSAMIT countries were thus
expected to lead them to leave behind characteristically high disparities, thanks to
this trickle-down effect. The countries certainly did well on the growth account
(although recent years have seen growth slowing down, particularly in Mexico and
Brazil, and now also in China). However, they lagged behind in terms of tackling
inequality: when the now-developed countries had income levels comparable to
current emerging economies levels, they were less unequal.2 Today, the BRICSAMIT
countries have long surpassed the income thresholds where inequality started
decreasing in developed countries, yet they are still waiting for such a turn in their
own trends. Even trends in poverty reduction are less clear for some of them; for
instance, according to the most recent figures, poverty levels have been increasing
again in Mexico. In fact, today all of the BRICSAMIT countries are among the most
unequal in the world by at least one or more indicators:
South Africa is the country with the highest income-inequality levels by virtually
all indicators.3
India has the largest absolute number of poor people notwithstanding its
wealthy elite, which includes 22 members among the worlds 500 richest individ-
uals.4
China and Indonesia display some of the fastest-growing gaps between their
richest and poorest income earners.
In Brazil, the richest 5% of the population secure over 30% of total income, while
the poorest 10% only gain just above 1%.
Turkey occupies one of the lowest ranks in the Global Gender Gap Report 2013.5
In Mexico, indigenous peoples are almost four times as likely to live in extreme
poverty as non-indigenous,6 while the average income of rich individuals
amounts to 27 times that of the poor.
Russia is the country with the highest absolute wealth inequality in the world.
On top of these dimensions, spatial inequality is vast within all of the BRICSAMIT
countries, with developmental differences between richer (urban) and poorer (rural)
regions similar to those between Norway and Iraq.
The price the countries have to pay for these trends is devastating: excessive inequali-
ty severely hampers their development prospects. It not only negatively impacts their
growth potential but also threatens poverty reduction, leading to mass migration
flows and brain drain, limiting opportunities for youth and perpetuating high levels
of violence. Economic, social and political inequalities come to affect all aspects of life,
from health and education to legal protection, investment choices and social cohe-
sion. Under such circumstances, inequality in its multiple dimensions becomes
self-perpetuating and leads to a downward spiral of negative consequences from a
human development perspective.
Considering that these countries continue to be highly unequal despite their vast
growth and some important successes in extreme poverty reduction, calls into
question the discourse of inclusive growth and trickle-down of wealth promoted by
many economists. In fact, new data available today, which covers longer time spans
for most of the countries in the world, has challenged the general assumption of a
self-correcting distribution as countries grow richer.7 Growth in the BRICSAMIT
countries does not resemble a rising tide that lifts all boats. Yet despite this, the
pursuit of economic growth at all costs appears to continue unabated. Besides a lack
of interest on the part of a closely-intertwined economic and political elite who stand
to continue to gain from the status quo, this failure to act more decisively on inequali-
ty might also be based on the underestimation of both the actual levels of inequality,
and its consequences.
INEQUALITY IS A DECISIVE FACTOR IN DEVELOPMENT
This report therefore aims to shed some light on the actual scope of inequality in the
countries under consideration, as well as on the economic, social and political
consequences they are facing as a result. To this end, it examines the approach to
economic growth over recent decades, as well as the inequality dynamics characteriz-
ing the BRICSAMIT countries. The report considers how these dynamics are perpetu-
ated by two mutually constituting forces: on the one hand, the policies applied by
governments, which in themselves may be more or less progressive in intention and
outcome; and on the other, the particular institutional frameworks within which these
policies are embedded the set of rules and regulations shaped by a complex web of
interests within a country. One of the common features across these systems is the
rule-makers dependence on funds, at both the personal and institutional level, to
achieve objectives such as re-election and economic growth. This grants some elite
groups a privileged position to influence both the set-up of the institutional frame-
work and the specific policies enacted. The resulting inequality of power excludes
millions of people from an equitable share in prosperity, threatening the countries
development prospects.
As the political power of economic elites grows, the average citizens power to
actively shape significant policies decreases. The more visible causes and conse-
quences of the resulting inequalities manifest themselves in differentiated living
standards for citizens according to income, including in the realms of health, educa-
tion and life chances. They create two tiers of development in all aspects of life, where
the wealthy enjoy increasing levels of affluence that do not fall short of any high-in-
come group in the developed countries, while the lower income groups remain in
conditions of deprivation. All of this affects social cohesion and societal stability. A
mutually reinforcing circle of inequality is created where economic concentration
leads to political power, often reinforcing existing social structures, which increases
concentration of wealth and hence perpetuates inequality.
While economists have started to consider the question of how much (economic)
inequality a market can bear by exploring the links between inequality and growth,
the question of how much a society can bear has been somewhat neglected. Scruti-
nizing the current income and wealth polarization shows that this is far from a trivial
side-clause. Indeed, developmental goals such as equal rights for all, the fight
against poverty and gender discrimination, empowerment of disenfranchised groups
and individuals, and the right to a life free from violence are central to the debate on
inclusive growth and development.
COMMON FEATURES ACROSS A DIVERSE SET OF COUNTRIES
The BRICSAMIT comprise a diverse set of countries, and each of them merits a study in
its own right. Nonetheless, taken as a group, several common themes emerge in
terms of the impacts of their distributive policies on citizens well-being. One of the
central questions this report aims to address, against concerns about the quality of
life of the many in a high growth/high inequalities context, is thus: does this growth
imply (equal) increases in well-being for all citizens? Analyses of the developmental
status of the BRICSAMIT countries would be incomplete without looking at the
distribution of their gains, considering that, together, these eight countries host
almost half of the total world population (over 3.54 billion) and generate a quarter of
its GDP (US$18.8 trillion in 2013).
TABLE 1: BASIC COUNTRY INDICATORS 2014
Country Population GDP, US$ (bil- GDP/cap 2014 Government Public health
2013 (millions) lion) (US$) expenditure on expenditure (%
education of government
(% of GDP) expenditure
Russia 143.5 2,057.30 14,316.64 4.10 8.42
Brazil 200.4 2,244.13 11,067.48 6.35 6.93
Mexico 122.3 1,295.86 10,836.69 5.15 15.38
Turkey 74.9 813.32 10,518.29 2.86 10.74
China 1,357.4 10,355.35 7,572.36 1.91 12.63
South Africa 53.2 341.22 6,354.28 6.00 14.02
Indonesia 249.9 856.07 3,403.97 3.57 6.63
India 1,252.1 2,047.81 1,625.64 3.87 4.55
Source: Data from the World Bank (2015)8
The BRICSAMIT countries share an additional number of important features that
warrant a joint analysis. They all play an increasingly important role on the global
scene in an attempt to provide a counterweight to the developed countries domi-
nant power position. The fact that much of their growth in recent decades has been
appropriated by a narrow elite stems largely from the adoption of an inherently
unequalizing economic model. This includes the reliance on mega-infrastructure
projects, such as the Belo Monte and other large dam projects in Brazil, high-speed
railways in India and Mexico, or even the FIFA World Cups in Brazil (2014), South Africa
(2010) and Russia (2018), which drive country growth while generating benefits
mainly for a small number of individuals and corporations, often with serious negative
consequences for the environment and poor people. Alongside this is extractive
industry growth such as the extensive mining operations in South Africa and Indone-
sia; and agribusiness attached to huge landowners, for example the eucalyptus,
sugarcane and soy mass monocultures in Brazil, popularly known as green deserts.
Finally, it relies on the large-scale privatization of both natural resource companies
and services such as telecommunications, initiated during the economic and/or
political transitions of the 1980s and 1990s.
The hope that came with the idea of transition from any one political-economic
system to another, which all of the countries experienced then, has now given way to
popular disillusion in many cases. Instead of a supposedly benevolent elite that would
share gains voluntarily, a majority of citizens in emerging countries believe that their
economic system unduly favours the wealthy, who, rather than looking out for the
greater good, are mainly concerned with their personal privileges.9
High-inequality countries more generally share a number of characteristics, including
direct links between income divergence and high levels of violence, mass migrations,
public health hazards, and discrimination based on gender and ethnicity i.e. other
kinds of inequality can grow alongside any one income distribution. Understanding
the way these determinants relate to the political-economy and governance systems
across the countries in question might increase the urgency to tackle the inequality
problem, and hence form the basis for adequate recommendations to enable relevant
stakeholders to build a more equal society. Instead of assuming a fixed developmental
path automatically leading emerging countries towards developed countries success,
using their peer countries as a reference might be more suitable both to assess
where they are now and to consider where they might want to get to in the future.
The remainder of the report will be structured as follows: Section 2 briefly explores
the complex relationship between growth and inequality in the BRICSAMIT countries
and its impact on their state of development, before mapping the inequalities in
income and wealth in each country. Section 3 links the findings to mechanisms of
elite capture and identifies some key institutions that perpetuate elite privilege.
Section 4 outlines the impact of social inequalities e.g. in health and education, and
how they decrease opportunities on the personal or group level, based on the
coexistence and mutual dependency of the multiple inequalities observed. The report
concludes by sketching out a way forward in the countries considered, in Section 5.
Next Page: Leonard Kufeketa, 39,
in Parkhurst, an expensive
suburb of Johannesburg.Things
are changing in South Africa for
the worst. The public schools are
no good. Those in the
government, they are very rich,
the rest of us are poor. (2014)
Zed Nelson/ Oxfam
2. MAPPING ECONOMIC
Joko Widodo, newly elected president of Indonesia, recently proclaimed that a
dangerous level of inequality was threatening his country: Economic growth is very
important for my administration, for my people, but its more important to narrow the
gap, he said on 2 February 2015.10 Indias Narendra Modi, on the other hand, pro-
claimed in July 2014 that, Economic policy has often to strike a delicate balance
between the two goals of economic growth and human welfare which need not
necessarily be contradictory.11 Thus, although inequality has at least started to enter
the political narrative of leaders in their policy design and implementation processes,
addressing inequality still does not constitute the central focus of economic policies
in all of these countries.
Globally, there is increasing acknowledgement of the negative impact of inequality
on growth.12 Various factors may forge such a link: for instance, as the distance
between the rich and poor grows, the lack of trust in institutions (such as the banking
system, rule of law, or property rights enforcement) may lead to higher non-institu-
tional savings and thus lower investment rates. Suboptimal investments, including in
human capital by individuals who are unable to pay for expensive education and
training, would lower potential output. Decreasing shares of total income going to
low wage earners might increase industrial action such as strikes, again lowering
economic output. Perceived high levels of violence and crime may deter companies
from investing in productive capacity and enhance speculation. The social and
economic instability that comes with stark disparities can increase the frequency and
depth of crises leading to erratic growth and losses, and increasing the possibility of
political instability, which in turn further feeds social distrust.
GROWTH FOR WHOM?
It is important to distinguish between means and ends in the evaluation of economic
development. Growth has no inherent benefit if it fails to achieve increased well-being
for the majority of a countrys citizens. Inequality, on the other hand, has an intrinsic
negative value: it is exclusionary, preventing some groups of society from realizing
their full potential and rights in social, political and economic life. An inequality
debate solely focused around the objective of achieving growth will limit understand-
ing of the negative consequences that large disparities have on all aspects of society.
The BRICSAMIT countries have experienced prolonged periods of economic growth
combined with rising inequality during recent decades. Hence, increasing inequality
does not necessarily preclude growth rates at times exceeding double-digit levels in
China and India, and reaching around 9% in 2010 and 2011 in Turkey.13
The mere existence of growth gives no indication of who benefits from it. Instead of
an overall process of developmental improvements, two-speed progress can be
observed within the BRICSAMIT countries, where large parts of the population are
consistently losing out under the current economic and political set-up.
Several developments testify to this process of two-speed development and the
widening of inequality. Firstly, over the last decade, the share of total incomes derived
from capital has been on a steady rise in many of the countries, while the share of
total incomes from labour fell below its levels two decades ago, as shown in Figure 1
for Turkey and Mexico; similar trends are documented for China and India.14
FIGURE 1: FACTORAL INEQUALITY INCREASES IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES DUE TO SHRINKING
LABOUR AND GROWING CAPITAL SHARES, 1990-2011
80 Capital Share Turkey
Capital Share Mexico
Labor Share Turkey
Percentage of total GDP
Labor share Mexico
Source: Data from ILOSTAT (2015)15
This puts the BRICSAMIT countries into a difficult position: instead of functioning as
an engine for fair and equitable increase in well-being among the masses, their
macroeconomic progress increasingly benefits primarily those who receive capital
gains as opposed to income from labour. Except for a small elite, most people in-
cluding even relatively high-income groups earn by far the largest part of their
income from labour.16 This makes the distribution of capital incomes by definition
more unequal: in a context of economic growth it means that only a very few individ-
uals (i.e. those receiving their incomes from capital) have appropriated ever-larger
parts of total income, an unequalizing process that has accelerated over recent years.
POVERTY PERSISTS
Secondly, the persistence of poverty indicates the exclusion of an important part of
the population from the benefits of growth. There has been undeniable progress in
poverty reduction at the lowest income levels in most of the countries. As Figure 2
shows, while two decades ago all of the countries had about 50% or more of the
population living on less than $5 a day at purchasing power parity, today this is the
case only in half of these countries: India, Indonesia, China and South Africa.
However, vulnerability remains ubiquitous. In Mexico, 79.5% of the population live
either in poverty or vulnerability.17 World Bank data18 shows that in 2015 in India and
China alone, almost one billion people still live on less than US$2 a day. What is
more, the number of poor people living on less than US$5 a day, while falling
proportionally, has actually been on a significant rise in absolute terms in India and
Indonesia, where virtually the entire population except for a tiny economic elite
survive on incomes below this threshold. Altogether more than 2.3 billion people
(or over 65% of their combined populations) live on less than US$5 a day in the
BRICSAMIT countries, and close to 1.2 billion people in India alone.19
FIGURE 2: WHO WERE THE BOTTOM 40% TWENTY YEARS AGO? WHO ARE THEY NOW?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of total population
Extreme poor (less than $1.25 a day)
Poor (between $1.25-$2 a day)
Moderately poor (between $2-$5 a day)
Vulnerable, middle class and rich (more than $5 a day)
Source: Data from the World Bank (2015)20
Finally, the decoupling of average per capita incomes from what most people actually
earn in BRICSAMIT countries starkly illustrates who has been benefiting from growth. For
example, although the average disposable per capita income in Mexico is MXN$3,164 per
month, (approximately US$180 at the time of writing) half of the population earn less
than MXN$2,030.21 Thus, commonly quoted per capita income figures overestimate the
resources available to most people. This difference is even more pronounced when
considering wealth: for instance, in Indonesia, half of the population own less than
US$1,800 in assets, even though Credite Suisse estimates its average wealth at a level of
US$9,742.22 In South Africa, even fewer people reach the average wealth level of
US$22,073, with half of the populations actual wealth lying below US$4,007. In fact, in
South Africa and Indonesia, the median incomes lie below the minimum wage level,
which in turn represents only 60% and 65% of average wages, respectively.23
THE GROWING INCOME GAP
In those cases where the income gap was wide to begin with, the absolute gap between
peoples incomes continues to increase even when the incomes of the poorest grow
faster than those of the rich. Figure 3 shows that in Brazil, for instance, growth for the
poorest 40% was more than double that of the richest 5% between 2002 and 2011.
Nevertheless, the absolute difference between the average incomes of the poorest and
richest more than doubled, from BRL28,070 (US$8,000)24 in 2002 to BRL59,937
(US$17,200) in 2011. In China, where the poorest managed to multiply their incomes by
more than five during the same period, the gap between their incomes and those of the
richest 5% more than tripled, from CNY11,772 (US$1,840) to CNY40,354 (US$6,306). At
current growth rates for the poor and rich, it would still take more than 35 years for the
gap to start closing in China, and in Brazil it would not start shrinking until the year 2080.
In Indonesia, India and South Africa, the gap even increased in relative terms. Data from
Milanovic shows that in the latter, for instance, despite growth both at the bottom and at
the top, the poor saw their share diminish by around 3% while the top 5% increased
theirs by almost 7% between 2002 and 2011. If unaltered, in 20 years such dynamics
would leave the poorest 40% with a mere 2.2% share of total income, while that of the
richest 5% would have increased to 55.8%.
FIGURE 3: INCOME GROWTH AT THE BOTTOM AND TOP OF THE
DISTRIBUTION, 2002-2011
Poorest 40%
Richest 5%
Source: Data from Milanovic (2014)25 and (2015)26
Given this polarization and the trend of leaving entire population groups behind on
the road to prosperity, the tendency to treat inequality simply as a factor that might
slow down or harm the countrys growth prospects seriously downplays its negative
impacts. The degree of equality in the distribution of developmental gains has to
become the central objective for policy making if the well-being of citizens is a
Despite progress made on extreme poverty reduction, most of the worlds poor today
live in the BRICSAMIT countries. This contrasts sharply with the fact that these are by
no means poor countries. They not only host a growing number of the worlds richest
individuals as listed by Forbes (22 of the Top 100 in July 2015),27 but they are also
endowed with exceptional natural resources particularly energy resources such as
oil and gas large domestic markets and thriving international trade, making them
occupy the top ranks in the list of the worlds richest countries in terms of GDP. This
could in principle ensure considerable well-being for their entire populations. Instead,
encountering poverty amidst great wealth is becoming the norm in these countries.
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY TRENDS IN THE BRICSAMIT
Figure 4 compares the countries Gini coefficients (currently one of the most frequent-
ly used measures of inequality, despite its limitations)28 over the last three decades.
Although individual country trends differ notably, inequality on average rose across
the BRICSAMIT countries. With the exception of Turkey and Brazil, all of the countries
end up with comparatively higher Gini levels today than 30 years ago.
FIGURE 4: INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO THE GINI COEFFICIENT, 1984-2012
50 South Africa
As a result of this general tendency, the spectrum of Gini coefficients, which in the late
1980s ranged from 23.8 to 61.4, shrank to a space of 34 (India) to 65 (South Africa) by
the mid-2010s. This shows a convergence of inequality on a high level, meaning that
the countries are on average getting more unequal and more similar in their inequality
levels, including those countries which historically were less unequal. The Palma ratio30
corroborates this observation. With an increase at the top that outpaced the increase at
the bottom, the formerly less unequal countries are more unequal now, while the
formerly more unequal ones became even more unequal over the time considered.
In view of the still pervasive levels of poverty in the countries, how were the additional
resources from decades of fast GDP growth allocated across society particularly, how
did the most vulnerable parts of society fare?
While the 50% of the population which lies between the richest 10% and the poorest
40% holds on average about 50% of total income,31 the share of the richest 5% of the
population corresponds to more than double that of the poorest 40% in some of the
countries. On average, the shares these groups hold remained fairly constant through-
out the last decade, except for the slightly increasing share of the richest 5% (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5: INCOME SHARES BY POPULATION GROUP, 2002-2011
80% Second Richest 5%
Middle 50%
Share of total income
However, important distributional differences mark the individual countries. The only
countries with unambiguously equalizing shares throughout the period considered,
i.e. those where the poorests share is growing consistently while the richest 5%s share
is decreasing, are Brazil (albeit from a very low position) and, to a lesser degree, Turkey.
In all of the countries except India, the richest 5% alone earn a larger share than the
poorest 40% of the population. Yet even given this overall trend there are clear
differences between countries in terms of just how much of the share of income is
taken by the top: while the richest 10% account for about a third of total income in
Russia, China, Indonesia, Turkey and India, in South Africa they earn more than half,
followed closely by Brazil and Mexico.34
FIGURE 6: INCOME SHARES OF THE RICHEST AND POOREST, 1984-2011
BRAZIL MEXICO
50 Richest 10%
Income share (%)
CHINA RUSSIA
INDIA SOUTH AFRICA
INDONESIA TURKEY
An increasing share of the top is almost always accompanied and matched by a loss in
share for the most vulnerable part of the population, i.e. the trajectories of the rich
and poor groups in Figure 6 mirror each other (especially those starting from more
equal distributions). Given the context of economic growth in the countries, this
indicates that rich groups have been able to take advantage of growth benefits at the
cost of the poorer groups. Scrutinizing the share of the top income earners can shed
some light on the dynamics behind this pattern.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TOP ONE PERCENT
The top is in fact the most unequal income group of the entire distribution. It is also
the most difficult to get accurate data on. Somewhat reliable estimates as to the share
of total income that goes to the richest 1% of income earners only exist for India and
Indonesia up to 1999 and 2004, respectively, and for South Africa until 2011.37 Figures
for South Africa show that the share of those at the very top has been increasing
significantly, granting the richest 1% almost 17% of total income, up from around 8%
in the early 1980s (although levels have not reached their peak of close to 24% in
1946). Similar trends hold in India and Indonesia.38 Recent numbers for Mexico
suggest that it is currently one of the most unequal countries according to this
measure, allotting 21% of total income to just the richest 1%.39
FIGURE 7: INCOME SHARE OF THE RICHEST 1% IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1986-2010
Percentage of total income
Source: Data from World Top Incomes Database (2015)40
If the top is dissected into ever-smaller fractions, and each of these fractions is divided
into an upper and a lower half, the poorer half of the respective groups always has a
significantly smaller share compared to the richer one. This is concerning, as it means
that a focus on the richest 10% or even 5% as the top share falls short of capturing the
truly extraordinary differences hidden in the highest end, and further scrutiny as to
what is happening at the peak of the distribution will be necessary. This phenomenon
of fractal division means that, for instance, the South African top 0.1% just over
50,000 people held 4.8% of total income in 2010; the richer 25,000 of this small
group, however, appropriated close to 70% of this amount.
Where the increase of the top share is so large, proportionally other income groups
lose out. As Figure 5 has shown that the middle income groups share remains fairly
stable at around 50%, the loss must therefore occur at the bottom of the distribution.
This groups voice tends to be represented less in policy circles, due to several factors.
For instance, its lack of economic power means it has little exposure to networks and
connections that are close to and have influence on decision makers. These groups
also lack the resources to invest in professional lobbyists who could advocate their
interests. At the same time, the very diverse interests of the low income groups
further complicate advocacy dedicated to their concerns.
THE FAILURE OF TAX SYSTEMS TO REDRESS THE BALANCE
Government policies should and could increase the income share of the poor; one of
the most effective ways of doing so could be through reducing the income of the top
earners via progressive taxation. However, this is not currently an issue very high up
the public policy agenda in the BRICSAMIT countries. For one, the total amount of tax
collected is comparatively small: even the relatively high amount of 27.5% of GDP that
South Africa collects falls far short of the OECD average of 34%.41 All BRICSAMIT top
income-tax rates remain below the OECD average of 41.58%, with Russian top levels
of 13% at the low end.42
More generally, the BRICSAMIT countries rely on regressive indirect taxation over
potentially progressive direct taxes: in 2009, Brazil collected 12.9% of GDP through
expenditure tax, such as VAT, but only 8.2% in direct taxes.43 The structure of direct
taxation is not very progressive either; for instance, Indonesias relatively flat in-
come-tax system only has four thresholds, the lower threshold being zero (i.e. there is
no tax-exempt amount for the poor), while the highest rate of 30% applies to annual
incomes starting from just US$37,000.44 In 2012, the OECD countries managed to
decrease their inequality levels through their fiscal systems by 25% on average,45
whereas data for Brazil (2009) suggests that the combined effect of direct transfers,
indirect subsidies, and direct and indirect taxes amounted to a reduction in inequality
of just 4.2%.46 Moreover, the overwhelmingly regressive item of tax expenditure, i.e.
the foregone government revenue due to tax reductions, exemptions or credits
claimed by specific groups, is estimated at 5% of GDP for Turkey in 2003, and may be
well above 10% of GDP in China in 2002.47 Brazil has achieved a decrease in income
inequality, as shown in Figure 5, albeit not significantly below its 1990 level (see Box 1).
Irrespective of their degree of progressivity, the low transfer levels of such pro-
grammes do not allow recipients to save much of their incomes for moments of
unforeseen hardship, such as illness. In South Africa, over 86% of adults took out a
loan in 2013/14, making it the worlds number one country for people needing
loans.50 Recipients do not seem to have enough money to meet even the most basic
needs: 36% of loan-takers borrowed to pay for education and/or healthcare. Only
when individuals are endowed with savings or wealth of their own, may government
transfers lose importance, because (temporarily) insufficient income can be compen-
sated using personal means. So to assess peoples actual opportunities to enjoy equal
living standards, particularly in the context of a limited welfare state, it is important
not only to look at current incomes, but also at the distribution of wealth.
BOX 1: BRAZILS EFFORTS TO COMBAT INEQUALITY
Three sets of policies seem to have aided Brazils efforts at bottom-up equalizing, i.e.
increasing the incomes of the most vulnerable groups: there has been an outspoken
political focus on inequality reduction; substantial increases in minimum salaries; and
a set of inclusive social transfer programmes and universal pension schemes. These
include its flagship conditional cash transfer programme (Bolsa Famlia), the non-con-
tributory pension programme for the elderly poor (Beneccio de Prestao Continua-
da), and a milk transfer programme. This strategy of equalization from below is
promising, since it is a path of least resistance and thus politically easy to embark on.
However, the equalizing potential of these policies could be multiplied if they were
combined with others, particularly progressive tax policies. Additionally, Brazil has not
been able to achieve more redistribution through direct transfers because its highly
progressive programmes are small: combined, the above three programmes make up
less than 1% of GDP.48 The majority of Brazils larger transfer programmes are, on the
other hand, regressive in absolute terms.49
THE FAST-RISING WEALTH GAP
Wealth, defined as the value of financial assets plus real assets (principally housing)
owned by households, less their debts,51 has grown rapidly in the BRICSAMIT coun-
tries since 2000. It has tripled in Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey, more than
tripled in China, increased four-fold in Indonesia and by a startling eight times in
Russia.52 Moreover, China now has more residents with wealth above US$50m than
any other country except the USA. The official numbers are likely to vastly underesti-
mate the extent of private wealth: for every known one of Chinas one million plus
millionaires, by some accounts another two exist under the radar.53 In South Africa,
the number of millionaires with more than US$10m has grown 120% over one
decade, compared with a world average growth of 71%.54
However, again, the massive increases in wealth have not necessarily led to decreases
in inequality: China and India are more unequal than in decades. Only Brazil, Indone-
sia and South Africa have wealth distributions roughly similar to that for the world as
a whole. The remainder of countries are yet more unequal: 88% of Indonesias and
95% of Indias adult population own less than US$10,000, compared to an internation-
al average of 70%, while Indonesia is home to 98,000 dollar-millionaires, and in India
650 people own more than US$100m.55
Simultaneously, in all of the countries both the number of millionaires and their respec-
tive wealth has risen over the past two decades, and Credite Suisse (2014) estimates that
their number will continue to rise significantly over the next five years; in some countries
almost doubling. Such high-end growth is a worrisome tendency compared to the
constant or diminishing income share of the poorer groups documented above.
Moreover, wealth trends do not necessarily follow the same trends as income. In India,
where income inequality is rising continuously but from a relatively modest level and
not nearly as dramatically as in other countries, the concentration of wealth is much
more preoccupying. The share of wealth held by the richest 10% in China is the most
modest of the BRICSAMIT countries. Yet Chinas Gini coefficient seems to have grown
from 55 in 2002 to an estimated 76 (a level comparable to that of the USA) in 201056 a
very rapid change for such a short period of time. Hence, wealth distribution is not only
even more unequal than income;57 it is also becoming more unequal at a faster rate.
Alarmingly, even in those countries where income inequality seems to have fallen over
recent decades namely Brazil and Turkey wealth inequality is actually on a fast rise.
Whereas a majority of the countries (Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Indonesia and Brazil,
in order of decreasing change) experienced a timid decline in the share of wealth held
by the richest 10% between 2000-2007, their share increased rapidly again following
the global economic slowdown in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, reaching
very high levels in all of the BRICSAMIT countries, particularly in Russia, China, Turkey
and Indonesia. In Mexico and China the richest 10% now hold more than 60% of total
wealth; in Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey this proportion rises to
above 70%. In the most extreme case of wealth inequality in the world, Russia, the
richest 10% hold 85% of total household wealth.58 Indeed, as Figure 8 shows, the share
of the richest 10% now by far exceeds its 2000 levels in all but two countries, Mexico
and South Africa (though in the latter it is only 0.5% below its 2000 level).
FIGURE 8: TRENDS IN THE WEALTH SHARE OF THE RICHEST 10%, 2000-2014
Source: Data from Credite Suisse (2014)59
THE TOP WEALTH IN PERSPECTIVE
As with income, if we scrutinize the very apex of wealth holders, distances to the rest
of the population become astronomical.60 The respective countries richest citizen
owns between an estimated US$77.1bn in Mexico and US$4.4bn in Turkey (Table 2).
Comparing the immense size of these private fortunes to their home countrys GDP
shows that in Mexico, this one man owns wealth equivalent to almost 6% of the
production value of the entire country with its 122 million people. His wealth is
equivalent to the GDP of Cuba or Oman, and just above that of Belarus, Sri Lanka and
Azerbaijan. In South Africa, the richest man holds the equivalent of more than 2% of
the countrys GDP, and in Brazil, Indonesia and India above 1% of GDP.
Considering only the change in wealth these individuals experienced over the last year,
we find that in India, the richest mans income corresponds to almost 1.5 million times the
average income; in China this ratio is over 1.4 million. In Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico the
richest man earned almost half a million times the average income.
TABLE 2: WEALTH OF THE COUNTRYS RICHEST PERSON IN PERSPECTIVE (2015)
Country Richest Person Core Business Personal Wealth as % Richest Per- Ratio of
Wealth (US$ GDP sons Income Richest
billion) 2014 (US$ Persons In-
billion) come 2014
to Countrys
Mexico Carlos Slim Helu telecommunication 77.1 5.95 5.1 470,623
Brazil Jorge Paulo Lemann beer 25 1.11 5.3 478,881
China Wang Jianlin real estate 24.2 0.23 10.8 1,426,240
India Mukesh Ambani petrochemicals, 21 1.03 2.4 1,476,341
oil, gas
Russia Vladimir Potanin metals 15.4 0.75 2.8 195,577
Indonesia R. Budi Hartono tobacco, banking 9.3 1.09 1.7 499,416
South Johann Rupert luxury goods 7.4 2.17 0.1 15,737
Source: Data from Forbes (2015)61, IMF (2014)62
Given such numbers it is difficult to justify differences on any account of marginal pro-
ductivity, let alone basic fairness or egalitarian justice; it is unlikely that Indias, Chinas
or any countries richest person could be almost 1.5 million times as productive as
their compatriots. Additionally, considering that large parts of the wealth accumulat-
ed by the very richest stem from capital gains, peoples skills, knowledge and experi-
ence becomes less relevant in the generation of wealth. Even in South Africa, where
the difference between average income and that of the richest man is smallest, it
would take the average worker 15,737 years to earn what the countrys richest man
made in just one year.
With just his increase in wealth over the last year, Mexicos richest man could have
paid close to three minimum salaries63 to his 1.25 million fellow Mexicans living on
less than US$1.25 a day in 2012. And the combined wealth of the seven men listed in
Table 2, amounting to almost US$180bn, equals the annual income of all those 425
million people who live on less than US$1.25 a day across the BRICSAMIT. This vast
disparity points to a systemic issue whereby certain population groups are excluded
from opportunities and influence while others are enabled to shape the system.
The wealth shock effect following the 2008 financial crisis was the result of a combina-
tion of factors in its aftermath rather than a direct result of it: unstable markets and high
degrees of turmoil and insecurity among investors offered unexpected opportunities for
enrichment. Such crises tend to consolidate industry i.e. some firms go out of business,
while struggling companies are taken over by competitors and strategic businesses have
to be supported by public funds to stay afloat. This tends to benefit the owners of
surviving firms, while many workers might be dismissed on efficiency grounds.
The resulting inequality is exacerbated by individuals at the top end consuming less
of their assets compared to average income earners, who need to spend most of their
current incomes to make ends meet meaning continuous accumulation of further
wealth for the former. A government running fiscal deficits that threaten its opera-
tions at times of private-sector slowdown might also sell off public assets and/or cut
social spending. Those with sufficient financial cushioning tend to be less affected by
this and have better capacities to get on their feet again, even where they might have
lost assets temporarily.64 Figure 9 displays this effect very clearly, showing the sudden
rise in the share of total wealth going to the richest 1% after 2008.
FIGURE 9: WEALTH SHARE OF THE RICHEST 1%, 2000-2014
share of total wealth
THE RESHUFFLING OF WEALTH IN TIMES OF TRANSITION
(OR HOW THE RICH MADE THEIR FORTUNES)
Other systemic shocks in the past have had similar effects of reshuffling wealth in the
BRICSAMIT countries. Most significantly, the structural change beginning in the 1980s
or early 1990s, which all of the countries underwent, pushed inequality up significant-
ly through the creation of new possibilities for enrichment both in those countries
where inequality levels had been low by international standards and in those where
they already were high. This was the case during the collapse of the Soviet system and
the ensuing shock-therapy transition process which led to the rise of the oligarchs in
Russia, but also the move towards a more market-oriented economy in China since
the reforms in 1978.66 As a legacy of their communist era, China, like Russia, inherited
low levels of inequality. One of the reasons for this was the virtual absence of inherit-
ed fortunes, and a relatively equal division of both rural land and privatized housing.
However, the banking reforms of the 1990s to accommodate the new socialist market
economy, as well as a controlled market opening and increasing participation in
global trade, yielded special opportunities for investment that many entrepreneurs
were able to take advantage of, making them rich in the process. Figure 6 above has
shown the effect of such shocks on the income distribution, with the share of the
richest 10% spiking up in Russia in the late-1980s, and growing at an increased pace
in China in the late-1980s and again in the late-1990s. Between 1988 and 2002, (rural)
Chinas wealth Gini increased from 31 to 40.67
Clearly, the changing institutional environment opens up the opportunity to make
fortunes. Although the objective then as now was to bring growth to the countries, a
small elite has been able to benefit more than average from these adjustments
through purchasing formerly state-owned enterprise, which allows for monopoly rent
extraction. Examples of this include the sale of the Russian oil giant Yukos to Mikhail
Khodorkovsky in 1995, as well as the sale of the Mexican phone company Telmex to
Carlos Slim in 1990.
In Mexico, as in Brazil, a wealth shift happened with Washington Consensus recom-
mendations for unilateral market opening and comprehensive privatization; this
started in the debt crisis of the 1980s, which consolidated existing oligarchs and
created new ones. The new governments of post-authoritarian regimes in Indonesia
and Turkey have pursued similar agendas of economic liberalization since the 1980s,
and in South Africa, transition after Apartheid in the 1990s led to the creation of a
new political elite alongside the traditional one. According to Acemoglu and Robin-
son,68 such reshuffling occurs because the economically powerful are able to strongly
influence the shape of new institutions during the insecurity, weak law enforcement,
and accountability or power vacuum that tend to accompany systemic changes.
Despite the large absolute differences in wealth between the richest individuals of
the respective countries, as in other parts of the world the wealth in the BRICSAMIT
countries is accumulated in the hands of a fairly homogenous group. There are
virtually no women or members of ethnic minorities among the 100 wealthiest
people of these countries. For instance, of Chinas super-rich, 90% are male;69 Indias
top 100 rich list counts four women; and Indonesia only features one woman in the
top 50. The average age of the top 50 in India is 66.6 years, and Indonesia only has
three members under 50. Chinas super-rich are comparatively young, with an average
age of 40. Excluding inherited wealth, in Russia, nine of the top ten richest people
have made their fortunes in extractive industries (oil, minerals etc.); while nine of the
top 19 wealthiest in China got rich thanks to telecom and internet companies, also a
favoured sector among the super-rich in Brazil, Mexico and Russia. Other popular
areas of investment for the rich include construction, real estate and banking. All of
these depend heavily on government permissions and regulations.
Family members help a pregnant
woman of Mohanpur Village get
off from an auto rickshaw in front
3. THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
of the Maner Primary Health
Center in Patna district, Bihar,
India. The Center is understaffed
OF ECONOMIC AND
and lacks sanitation and proper
equipment. Family members are
often asked to help with
POLITICAL POWER
deliveries. (2015)
The above suggests that the accumulation of wealth in this context works largely
through small groups of individuals and families thriving through their proximity to
political elites, and running the biggest raw-material and infrastructure companies of
the country undoubtedly helps to provide certain political influence. These individu-
als either happened to be in the right place and time at the moment of large-scale
privatization (Russia, China); were long-standing friends of the leaders of old and new
political regimes (India, Brazil); or they just became those leaders themselves (Mexico,
South Africa). Since contracts over former public assets are made available exclusively
through government permissions, these are susceptible to corruption by powerful
actors, especially where combined with low public sector accountability or weak rule
of law. This is a political problem, because it grants those people with the necessary
economic means more influence than average citizens.
An example of such influence is the case of the Semibankirschina, or rule of seven
bankers in transition-period Russia in the 1990s. A group of seven oligarchs con-
trolling the countrys major banks joined forces to back their preferred presidential
candidate, Boris Yeltsin, to ensure a favourable environment to improve their own
positions. The infamous loans-for-shares programme in 1995-6, in which a handful of
well-connected businessmen bought stakes in major Russian companies at very low
prices through rigged auctions,70 was proposed by group member Vladimir Potanin,
who is currently Russias richest man (see Box 2).
BOX 2: THE SEMIBANKIRSCHINA
In a 1996 interview to the Financial Times, newly appointed deputy secretary of the
Russian Security Council, billionaire Boris Berezovsky, credited seven prominent
Russian bankers, including himself, with bankrolling and masterminding Boris Yeltsins
presidential re-election campaign. Between them, Berezovsky claimed, they con-
trolled more than 50% of Russias GDP: We hired [first deputy prime minister Anatoly]
Chubais and invested huge sums of money to ensure [president Boris] Yeltsins
election. Now we have the right to occupy government posts and enjoy the fruits of
our victory. Another member of the group, head of Rosprom, Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
said in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta in 1997 that Politics is the most
lucrative field of business in Russia. [...] We draw lots in order to pick out a person from
our milieu for work in power. Indeed, several of the bankers ascended to important
political posts after the election was won, including Vladimir Potanin, head of Unex-
imbank and the groups richest member, who become deputy prime minister.
However, in mid-1997, battles for influence over gains to be made from new privatiza-
tion rounds (of telecom and oil) broke out among the bankers, and by November
1997 Berezovsky was removed from office and the group dissolved.
(The term Semibankischina was originally coined by a journalist as a contemporary
adaptation of Semiboyarschina, the seven Boyars or nobles who betrayed the Tsar and
defied Moscow for the invasion of Poland in 1610.)
Sources: Azarova 2011, Phillips 2000, Piontkovsky 199771
The economic flip-side to the same political problem is that opportunities open up for
rent-seeking, i.e. the extraction of wealth without creating new wealth, and for the
monopolization of access to vital resources. The owners of these assets can sell a
more expensive product or service back to the very state that sold off the business in
the first place. As such, after privatization, the price for water in Jakarta increased from
about US$0.13 to US$0.54 per cubic meter 2.7 times the rate charged by the public
water utility in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia.72 Such mutual
back-scratching makes both the investor and the politician richer in the process.73
Moreover, this preferential treatment is incredibly difficult to curb in a context where
the public sector collects low revenues via the tax system, as seen in Section 2. In
India, tax revenues represent only around 15% of total economic output compared
to nearly 40% across the European Union.74 Fewer than 3% of people in India file
income-tax returns at all, and conservative estimates of taxes foregone as a result of
the underground economy lie anywhere between 17-42% of GDP.75 To compensate a
diminutive fiscal sector, BRICSAMIT countries rely on exploitation of natural resources
and privatization of formerly public infrastructure to get liquidity and top up their
operating budgets. The energy sector is a startling example of this rent-extraction
phenomenon. The BRICSAMIT countries not only rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels
for energy supply within the country76 but, importantly, construct their economic
models around these as their main export components and source of government
income: for example, revenues from national oil company Pemex account for around
30% of the Mexican government budget.77,78
But especially where natural assets are privatized (as has happened with much of the
energy resources in Russia, and water in Jakarta79), exposure to related threats is highly
unequal. As such, in Brazil and Mexico, indigenous peoples are disproportionately
affected when forests are eroded for mining or farming, destroying their homes and
livelihoods. Massive dam projects in China and palm oil plantations in Indonesia also
see poor farmers and villagers pay the costs while private corporations reap the profit.
MECHANISMS OF POLITICAL CAPTURE
The very top is occupied by a select few who come from well-to-do-families, tend to
go to the same schools, share common social and political networks as well as
business interests, often in (extractive resource) trading or banking, telecommunica-
tions and media.
As in any small in-group that shares common (business) interests and interacts on the
same global (economic) stage, elite members know each other and rely on their connec-
tions for personal profits. They study together at expensive private universities80 or Swiss
boarding schools,81 live as neighbours in Sandhurst, South Africa,82 or meet regularly at
annual economic events across the world such as the World Economic Forum in Davos.83
This would not have to be problematic if it werent for the fact that the entanglement of
rich individuals in such networks has a collective capacity to influence policies, and
thereby permanently change the institutional landscape and rules of the game for
everybody to the continuous advantage of an already privileged group.
As a consequence of this entanglement, one recurring theme across the BRICSAMIT
countries is a high permeability between the political and economic elites. Depending
on the local particularities, different styles of oligarchic behaviour can be observed,
both in terms of taking advantage of current opportunities and of shaping the institu-
tional landscape to ensure that these opportunities will keep arising in the future.
In Brazil, for instance, of its 65 richest billionaires, 25 are blood relatives, and eight
families have multiple members in the top rankings;84 some have been there for
decades or even centuries (see Box 3). The elaborate power structures necessary for
such stability in the concentration of wealth include virtual control over media and
strategic economic assets such as banks and natural resources.
BOX 3: TRADITIONAL BRAZILIAN WEALTH
Brazil has 225,000 millionaires and 296,000 adults in the top 1% of global wealth
holders. In 2014, the 150 richest Brazilians saw their combined wealth increase 18.5%
compared to the year before, corresponding to about 13.3% of Brazils 2013 GDP.
Together, just the 15 richest families in the country are worth an estimated US$122bn
or about 5% of the countrys GDP. The wealth of an average citizen, on the other
hand, amounts to the 841,880th part of its richest citizens 2014 wealth. Brazilian
wealth inequality is very high, with an estimated Gini level of 82. Many billionaires are
concentrated in traditional rich clans who still control Brazils largest conglomerates in
media, banking and construction. These dynasties that resist going public and remain
family businesses include, for instance, the Marinho clan, the richest family in the
country and owner of Brazils largest media corporation, Globo Organizations, which
controls about half of Brazils broadcast television market. The Villelas and the Setub-
als together share control of Itau Unibanco Holding, the largest private bank in the
Southern hemisphere. The history of wealth and power of these families dates back
over four centuries to the 1500s.
Sources: Credite Suisse (2014) and Antunes (2013, 2014)85
Due to the specific regulatory environment surrounding them, these industries
require particular closeness to the political elite. Incidentally, they have also played
the largest role in the spectacular rise of Chinas super-rich: 16 of the top 20 richest
Chinese made their wealth either in real estate, internet and telecommunications, or
in the energy sector. As of 2013, 50% of Chinese millionaires were business owners,
20% professional investors, and 15% each were real-estate investors and high-level
senior executives.86 Clearly, market opening brings with it great business opportuni-
ties but only for those sufficiently aligned with political power: 90% of Chinas 1,000
richest individuals are officials or members of the Chinese Communist Party.87
In India, the interconnectedness of politics and money works through intimate
friendship. Although previous governments have also supported corporate interests
and uphold close relations with the Ambani family, the countrys richest business
clan,88 immediately after Narendra Modis election in 2014, stock markets soared upon
the expectation of a corporate-friendly prime minister, gaining over 40% in just one
year. However, overall GDP growth was much slower to adapt to this euphoria, and
food inflation remained at close to double-digit values. Certainly, this is hardly the
concern of the wealthy,89 95% of whom saw their fortunes grow last year.90 Their good
fortune also raises expectations for Indonesia, where extraction strategies recently
seemed to experience limits as some of the major resource magnates saw their
wealth diminish in line with decreasing palm oil profitability. The millionaires, includ-
ing the Hartono brothers (the richest family in the country) remain cheerful though,
since the collective wealth of the richest 50 Indonesians continued to increase in
2014.91 Several new entrants to this years millionaires list in the country testify to the
prosperous conditions.
THE REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN BUSINESS AND POLITICS
Meanwhile, in South Africa yet another strategy can be observed. Multi-millionaire
investor-entrepreneur Cyril Ramaphosa, now Deputy President of the ANC, hopes to
circumvent the politician-intermediary altogether by running for the countrys
presidency himself in 2017. The many contradictory hats he has worn in the past
(union leader and buster, black economic empowerment success story, and part-own-
er of both McDonalds and Coca-Colas South African outfits)92 testify to his adaptabili-
ty and connectedness. Self-evidently, he also runs on a pro-business platform. Similar
trends are also discernible in Mexico, where business people have moved into politics
already, such as the oil company owner and current energy minister Pedro Joaqun
Coldwell (see Box 4).
Russia adds a new twist to this revolving door operation between business and
politics. Having created the basis of their fortunes during the transition in the 1990s,
when large-scale privatization meant auctioning off state mines and oil fields,
oligarchs started to control much of the economy through their dominance of natural
resources.93 Recently, the same group of individuals started to sell their assets back to
state enterprises run by associates of, or billionaires closely aligned with, the govern-
ment. An example of this trend is the TNK-BP deal: the oil producer, which is half-
owned by a Russian consortium and BP, sold itself to state oil giant Rosneft, the
worlds top-listed oil company by output, for US$55bn,94 in 2013. The latter is run by
Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin; Sechin became head of
the company in 2012, after serving a term as the countrys deputy prime minister.95 At
the same time, many of the Russian super-rich now strive back towards the political
realm. At the last election, Mikahil Prokhorov (who made his US$13bn fortune in
natural resources, and more recently technology) ran for presidency,96 while Putins
right-hand man, Gennady Timchenko, is a highly influential energy and construction
magnate in Russia.
After an extraordinary period of personal enrichment and a widespread consolidation
of political and economic power in the process, together with Turkey and Indonesia,
Russia is one of the few countries with fewer billionaires this year compared to last.
Rather than the richest losing ground, however, this development relates to the local
currency devaluations, and potentially to more efficient and quiet ways adopted by the
super-rich to get their money out of the (official) system. As such, US$151.5bn was
taken out of Russia in 2014 which is 2.5 times the amount of capital that exited the
country the year before.97 Overall, illicit financial flows from the developing world by far
exceeded legal inflows of money, and these illicit flows have increased particularly from
the BRICSAMIT countries with high rates of resources extraction. In the case of Brazil, for
instance, assets put into secrecy jurisdictions were estimated at US$520bn in 2013.98
Therefore, notwithstanding the financial input of remittances sent by nationals
working abroad (which in turn by far exceeded foreign direct investment), in 2012 all
of the BRICSAMIT countries experienced a net outflow of private financial capital, of
between 1% of GDP in Russia to 5-6% in Mexico and Turkey.99 This phenomenon of
financial drain at the top alludes to a highly costly and unsustainable model of
development in the longer term. It follows that extreme inequality not only has a
corrosive effect on social life it is also a very poor economic strategy.
THE INSTITUTIONS THAT PERPETUATE PRIVILEGE
This brief overview has already identified a number of key models applied by the
respective elites: generating private profits off public goods by taking advantage of
personal connections that might lead to conflicts of interest for the office holders;
entering and exiting through the revolving door in and out of decision-making
positions in business and politics; and sponsoring public infrastructure projects. The
list of strategies can be extended to include channelling of illicit financial flows and
offshoring; buying access to election outcomes; and also corruption and bribery. Not
all of the diverse strategies employed are illegal. But all of them, whether legally
permitted or not, lead to a situation where the economic and political elite become
increasingly intertwined in their mutual dependence on, and support for, each other.
As explored in Section 2, opportunities for personal enrichment arise in societies
undergoing systemic change, yet it appears that a small economic elite in the
BRICSAMIT countries managed to get richer even during less turbulent times. The
recipe for this astonishing achievement seems to include the two important opportu-
nities that come with economic affluence: the power to influence policy towards
some preferred outcome at a given time; and the power to rig the rules, which
establishes the persistence of privilege in the future.
FINANCING POLITICS
Economic sponsorship can grant certain influence over both policy outcomes and the
regulatory framework. Two channels further help to build an environment that
favours the privileged. For one, the command over most of the key strategic sectors
for growth by a narrow group of influential individuals provides them with control
over large parts of the economy. This imposes the threat of their boycotting policies
and stalling the economy in instances where such policies are not perceived to be
beneficial. Acemoglu and Robinson100 describe how extractive elites block certain
technologies or increased spending on education, if and when such policies do not
promise them private gains.
Secondly, in the BRICSAMIT countries, an economic system organized entirely around
the aim of increasing growth (rather than focused on citizen well-being as its prime
goal) meets a political system that requires vast resources for aspiring politicians to be
elected into office. This makes the government susceptible to elite pressures. Few
candidates can cover the immense costs of running an independent campaign, and
those who can are themselves part of that tiny elite.101 Consequently, donors of funds
can exert significant influence over regulatory agencies or politicians, who become
increasingly accountable to their sponsors rather than their constituents.
One of the factors allowing such aberration is the countries systems of election
finance. Table 3 shows the limits for campaign financing in the BRICSAMIT countries.
In many cases, these are largely absent. Even where they do exist, the threshold is
often high, e.g. in Brazil, corporations are allowed donations for campaign finance
equivalent to 2% of their gross revenues (individual donors, 10% of their income);
however, this only refers to election campaigns outside election times there is no
limit to party contribution.102 In Russia, corporate donors should limit their contribu-
tions to $14m in purchasing power parity; in India $1.4m. In practice, nearly 90% of
the Indian Congress income and 75% of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys income
stem from donations below the disclosure limit of Rs20,000 (around US$300) and are
therefore not accounted for.103 In Turkey there is no requirement to even list a dona-
tion, while in South Africa a donors identity does not have to be revealed (in India it
only has to be revealed sometimes), making it very difficult for concerned citizens to
oversee which interests may be considered in the making of certain laws.
TABLE 3: REGULATIONS FOR POLITICAL FINANCE IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
Is there a ban on Is there a ban on Are there limits on the amount... Do campaign finances Must re- Is there
donations from corpo- donations from have to be reported... ports from a ban on
rations to... corporations with political anonymous
government contracts parties and/ donations
or partial government or candi- to political
ownership to... dates reveal parties?
the identity
candidates? political candidates? political a political a donor a donor can by by political
of donors?
parties? parties? party can can con- contribute candidates? parties in
spend? tribute to a to a political relation to
candidate? party in re- election
lation to an campaigns?
election?
Brazil No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
India No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Sometimes Yes
Indonesia No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mexico Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Russia No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
South No No No No No No No No No No No
Turkey No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes
Source: Data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2015)104
The way that elections are financed thus gives an indication of the potential for
political capture by influential interest groups. Of the roughly US$2bn spent by
parties and candidates in the 2010 Brazilian presidential election, nearly 98% of
winner Dilma Rouseffs campaign donations and 95.5% of her main opponents came
from corporations.105,106 Large corporate donations to influence policy outcomes are
also documented in Turkey and South Africa.107 In India, upwards of US$2bn was
allegedly spent to influence the Uttar Pradesh state elections in 2012 alone. Moreover,
accounts of clientelism, with electoral campaign funds being used to win votes
among poor and disadvantaged communities, are not uncommon: in the 2009
election for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 33% of voters claim to have received
money from candidates supporters for their vote; in 2011, voters were lured to the
polls with blenders, grinders and other household appliances;108 and the 2012
elections in Mexico were overshadowed by allegations of supporters distributing
household articles, food and other products.109
What do the corporate sponsors gain from this practice? In fact, financing parties and
candidates often several adversaries at the same time is a highly lucrative business
for private corporations. One recent study carried out in Brazil found that an electoral
victory brings on average an additional US$73,921-184,676 in government contracts
for each corporate donor, corresponding to 14-39 times their average contribution.110
While there is no way of telling whether these companies would have received similar
contracts in the absence of their donations, it can be assumed that their sponsorship
would not have hindered such preferential treatment (see also Box 4).
MEDIA CAPTURE AND ABILITY TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC OPINION
It is therefore unsurprising that most members of the economic and political elites are
scarcely interested in changing this mutually beneficial environment, and so in their best
abilities try to influence the regulatory framework and policy making.111 On the econom-
ic elites side, this can be by voting massively for the candidate that best suits their
interests by supporting their expensive campaigns, as described above; by recommend-
ing that others vote for specific parties/candidates, as exercised by millionaire football
coach Miguel Herrera at the 2015 Mexican elections to favour the PVEM;112 or by lobby-
ing and providing expertise to governments in the discussion of new regulations.
Politicians may simply accept, or actively seek such favours. The outcome of these
practices is vast political inequality often in line with increasing democratic deficits,
where economic elites tilt the playing field towards their specific in-groups.
Elite occupation of mass communication channels fosters a vicious cycle of politi-
cal-cum-economic power, where rules and laws can be manipulated according to the
specific interest of influential sponsors. The monopolization of the media leads to the
ability to influence public opinions and to make or break political careers. This is
epitomized in the cases of Globo, which provides preferential airtime to conservative
candidates in Brazil,113 or Televisa, which controls 70% of the Mexican television
market and played an important role in the rise to presidency of Enrique Pea
Nieto.114 In India, Mukesh Ambani holds majority shares of the countrys largest news
broadcaster, Network18 Group.115 The investment in media thus seems to be a distinct
elite strategy: beyond the pure economic benefits, it offers decisive powers in the
making of public opinion and politics.
CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Although not all members of the political and economic elites are corrupt, the above
shows that the temptation and potential for corruption is higher where the opportu-
nity for raking in is so accessible. While some countries have put into place protection
mechanisms against conflict of interest, it seems that these are not always very
effective, and the public is not given any control mechanisms to check whether the
law is actually adhered to (see Box 4).116
Unsurprisingly, trust in national government remains fairly low in the BRICSAMIT
countries. For instance, 91% of Mexicans consider political parties the most corrupt
institution in the country.117 This goes hand in hand with the publics consistently low
trust in financial institutions, banks and corporations; except in South Africa, this is
even lower than trust in governments and public servants (which is the second
lowest).118 Clearly, political capture and conflict of interest have to be understood as
two sides of the same coin and as a natural phenomenon in fast-growing, lightly
regulated economies. Through corruption, clientelism, populism and/or repression,
these lead to citizen disenfranchisement and alienation from the political process,
ultimately undermining emancipatory and democratic tendencies.
BOX 4: CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND THE REVOLVING DOOR IN MEXICO
The current president, Enrique Pea Nieto has the lowest approval rating of any
president in the past two decades.119 His government is facing numerous large-scale
corruption scandals over the finance of mansions worth millions, involving the most
important members of the executive (the president and his wife, and his ministers of
the interior, Miguel ngel Osorio Chong, and finance, Luis Videgaray). The deals
sponsor is the private conglomerate Grupo Higa, whose owner Juan Armando
Hinojosa Cant happens to be Pea Nietos favourite entrepreneur,120 and has,
incidentally, received billions in government contracts in recent years.121
Despite an explicit restriction by the Mexican legislation to avoid conflict of interest,
which states that individuals must cut all links to profit-making enterprises they or
their relatives (up to fourth consanguinity degree) hold upon taking up public
office,122 violation of this law seems common practice across the political spectrum.
Energy minister Pedro Joaqun Coldwell (PRI), for instance, does not perceive a
conflict of interest in being part of the administrative council of the state-owned
petrol company Pemex, while at the same time personally holding majority shares in
five oil enterprises.123 Other public figures implicated in the most recent cases of
conflict of interest include the likes of finance minister Luis Videgaray; deputies
Purificacin Carpinteyro (PRD) and Javier Lozano (formerly PRI; then PAN); and senator
Ninfa Salinas (PVEM), daughter of the fourth-richest person in Mexico, Ricardo Salinas
Pliego, who in turn owns the conglomerate Grupo Salinas, media giant TV Azteca, and
some of the countrys largest banks, football clubs and department stores.124
Although the law also provides for factual division of power and until recently
prohibited re-election, there has been a remarkable overlap between delegates to the
senate and Parliament. Some congressmen have accumulated 14-30 years living off
the Unions Congress in the past eight decades. Of the 10,027 legislators that went
through the federal chambers in Mexico, 1,448 were members of more than one
legislature.125 Fortunately for them, with the re-election approval on 7 June 2015, this
behaviour has been legalized.
CLOSING THE CIRCLE
In sum, where wealthy individuals can meet the need for campaign finance, and in
macroeconomic terms the country requires growth while a limited number of
individuals have the capacity to influence the national economys fate, political
capture is likely to be the result, and leads to the self-perpetuation of inequality. Politi-
cians who wish to be re-elected often on the strength of a thriving economy al-
most invariably become dependent on a few sponsors with the financial capacity to
influence their destiny. Even where not directly corrupted and/or personally involved,
the desire for transparency and accountability might diminish where ties between
these two spheres grow too close. The resultant political capture by wealthy elites is
both a form of corruption and a form of discrimination, making it inherently unequal-
izing through its direct effects, and indirectly, by rigging the system ever-more to
the interests of said elite.
A societys key social, economic and political institutions, such as its political constitu-
tion, level and progressivity of the tax system, prevailing welfare regime, bargaining
power of labour unions and other labour market regulations (e.g. minimum wage),
the structure of educational and electoral systems, accountability to civil society, and
many others,126 constitute the backbone of its inequality potential; they provide the
possible range within which inequality levels will fluctuate. They affect the distribu-
tion of resources across society leading to huge gulfs between rich and poor in terms
of educational outcomes, wages and health i.e. symptoms of inequalities. These
consequences in turn feed back into the institutional context and prevailing power
relations, slowly changing them over time. If key institutions are wittingly or
unwittingly designed deficiently from the outset, or are eventually captured by
elites, inequality will prevail.
Oxfam India
4. THE HIGH COSTS OF
If in this way economic power begets political power, which again increases economic
power, what impact does that have on average individuals well-being? What is the
impact of elite capture on the majority of people, who do not have direct links to
executive power and are thus largely excluded from the decision-making processes
that shape societal structures? Inequalities affect people in every area of their lives.
Social structures of income and wealth concentration drive these inequalities, but
demarcation lines of privilege may additionally run along dimensions such as gender,
ethnicity or geography.
The problem is that all of the vital inequalities are far from randomly distributed;
instead, they are very closely related to the presence (or absence) of economic
resources at the individuals disposal. The uneven distribution of economic resources
comes to shape every aspect of a society. In capitalist societies127 to have money is to
have freedom, while insufficient income and wealth leads to the denial of freedoms
and exclusion from the main activities of a society.128 In the BRICSAMIT context, state
provision of essential services is often limited, so the availability or otherwise of
economic resources is a key determinant of well-being in most other dimensions, i.e.
an individual can also improve their own and their childrens intrinsic situation by
investing in the private, expensive version of key goods, including education, health-
care and social protection, thereby securing higher income levels in the future. This
effectively results in two tiers of development within the same society.
INEQUALITIES AFFECT EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE
Inequalities affect other important aspects of quality of life besides our incomes, includ-
ing our physical and mental well-being, the environmental and social conditions we live
in, as well as our prospects of leading a fulfilled life in terms of choosing the education
and jobs we want to develop our own capabilities. Disaggregating the Human Develop-
ment Index (HDI)129 according to income groups, we are faced with stark differences in
developmental levels. Standards enjoyed by the highest quintile the richest 20% of the
population exceed average levels of even the most economically advanced nations,
whereas the lowest quintiles levels compare to those of the least developed countries.
Whether one belongs to the highly developed group or one of the lower ones depends
both on ones economic resources and geographical location within a given BRICSAMIT
country, due to persistently large regional differences in economic performance. For
instance, the ratio of GDP per capita in the richest versus poorest regions of Russia can be
compared to the developmental difference between Norway and Iraq. In Mexico, the
richest region earns 16 times more than the poorest earns. As such, the rural-urban divide
is still a reliable indicator of incomes. But living costs also vary greatly within countries
and are not always in proportion to differences in incomes. For instance, consumer prices
in Jakarta are more than 65% higher than those in the East Javan city of Surabaya, and
receiving an average income will mean something very different for a farmer in rural
Indonesia than it will for a (capital) city dweller.130 Large-scale migration towards mega-
lopolis from the rural hinterlands and a lack of absorption capacity by the recipient cities
has meant the creation of shantytowns in all of the countries, sometimes with popula-
tions of several millions of people.131 But what do these development differences mean
when translated into in less abstract terms?
UNEQUAL HEALTH AND LIFE EXPECTANCY
Most dramatically, perhaps, average levels disguise vast differences in life expectancy,
both across our set of emerging countries and compared to the top-ranking devel-
oped nations. Collectively, the BRICSAMIT fare much worse than the developed
countries: average life expectancy ranges from 56.9 years in South Africa to 77.3 years
in Mexico, compared to 83.6 years in top-scoring Japan. Such differences might arise
from genes and disease, but are also driven by social threats such as high murder
rates; exposure to environmental threats; the level of public sector investment in
health services; and individual capacity to purchase high-quality services where they
are not provided for by the state. All of these are highly unequally distributed in the
BRICSAMIT countries.
TABLE 4: DIFFERENCES IN LIFE EXPECTANCY ACCORDING TO INCOME LEVEL FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES
(AS MEASURED BY THE HDI LIFE EXPECTANCY COMPONENT)
Country Average Quintile 1 Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile 5 Ratio Q5:Q1
India 0.652 0.57 0.597 0.657 0.727 0.83 1.458
(1999/1997)
Indonesia 0.752 0.665 0.724 0.741 0.801 0.883 1.328
Brazil 0.783 0.644 0.782 0.911 0.94 0.991 1.538
South Africa 0.418 0.347 0.426 0.461 0.432 0.521 1.499
Source: Data from Grimm et al. (2009)132
If, then, the richer 20% of the population were to live 70.8 years, as is life expectancy
in Indonesia, for instance, a poor person would only live to 53, according to its quintile
ratio of 1.5 (Table 4). She would enjoy 17.5 years less of life. In South Africa, this
difference in life expectancy between the poorest and richest quintile amounted to
19 years; in India, 21; and in Brazil, almost 26 years.133
Whether or not one belongs to the fortunate group that can expect to live an extra 26
years depends largely on ones income, because, firstly, exposure to violence and
related threats to physical well-being is confined to specific areas usually the most
deprived neighbourhoods.134 Secondly, these differences are exacerbated by a
two-tier healthcare system of expensive private and scarcely sufficiently equipped
public services, where parts of the population are left largely unprotected. In Mexico,
for example, in certain states, health centres associated with the Seguro Popular, a
government-subsidized health insurance scheme for the poor, are unable to provide
over 80% of the medication they prescribe.135 At the same time, private clinics, which
charge the equivalent of a months minimum-wage salary for mere hospitalization136
are modern, comfortable and equipped with state-of-the art technology. In China,
10% of millionaires have their own personal physician to overcome shortages in the
provision of healthcare.137 Consequently, with the exception of Indonesia, satisfaction
with health systems in the BRICSAMIT countries is very low compared to the 80%
satisfaction rate in top HDI countries; complete satisfaction with the Mexican Seguro
Popular does not even reach 10%.138
PATCHY SOCIAL SECURITY COVERAGE
Similar things can be said about social security systems. Widespread informality in the
labour market means that working conditions are often precarious, and insurances for
unemployment, disability or old age in most of the countries, where they do exist,
only cover fractions of society. This way, inequalities generated during working life are
amplified during times of unemployment and cemented in old age. For the Indian
context, with an estimated 85% of labour informality in 2012, Kanbur shows that
informality leads to poverty, which again leads to informality.139 This informality-pov-
erty trap is both gendered and geographically biased, in that poverty incidence is
consistently higher among unorganized than among organized workers, particularly
among women and in rural contexts. According to Kanbur, this example informs the
general case, pointing to the relevance of sectoral workers organization, minimum
wage regulations and social protection coverage as policies contributing towards
greater equality. Working in the formal sector is no guarantee of a formal job; many
companies employ workers on an informal basis or employ them formally for only
part of the time they actually work. In Indonesia, informality within the formal sector
reaches 80% and in the agricultural sector 96%.140
The issue of old-age pension coverage divides the BRICSAMIT countries. According to
UNDP, this is enjoyed by a mere 8% of the population in Indonesia, 24% in India and
25% in Mexico.141 However, these numbers contrast starkly with the extent of cover-
age in the remainder of countries, reaching high levels of 86-92% in Brazil, Turkey and
South Africa, and 100% in Russia. In China, coverage is still 74% of eligible elderly;
however, the social pension level is set at US$9 per month, or 1% of GDP per capita
hardly a sufficient amount.142 Prospects for the elderly are hence quite diverse,
depending on the country.
The experience with social pension schemes where level and coverage are more
adequate, as in South Africa or Brazil (and parts of Mexico), shows that minimum
conditionality and universal coverage in old age has progressive effects on the income
distribution. This points towards a clear way forward, particularly considering the
demographic change that the BRICSAMIT countries are starting to experience, with an
increasing proportion of the population aged over 60.
UNEQUAL EDUCATION LIMITS SOCIAL MOBILITY
For now, those in precarious working conditions tend to face precarious old-age prospects,
while those who benefit from the usually higher wage in formal jobs have the further
advantage of receiving healthcare and future pension coverage. The two-tier services
provision system leaves large parts of the population unprotected. Such vulnerability in the
face of existential risks, besides inequality of outcomes, leads to very unequal opportunities.
For instance, a single mother might not send her oldest child to school to ensure she can
provide for her other children. Or a young person might choose not to pursue a university
degree because she needs an income to support herself and/or relatives, cannot afford fees
and does not want to take out a loan if future job opportunities are limited. Thus, lack of
money in the present impairs peoples decision-making on investments, for instance relating
to higher education, hence limiting opportunities for social mobility in the future.
These differences in opportunities can be clearly observed in the educational sphere.143 As
with health, when disaggregating educational attainment by income quintiles (Table 5), vast
differences appear between the top and bottom income groups. In Brazil, where the ratio is
highest, this translates into a poor student finishing secondary school while her richer peer
goes to university. Although official data reports near 100% primary school enrolment, in
Delhi about half of the 50,000 urban street children were illiterate in 2011 and only 20% had
received some formal education.144 Many of these children never complete primary educa-
tion; enrolment rates fall from 90.78% at early-primary level to 62.24% at upper-primary
level.145 Moreover, among poorer population groups drop-out rates are higher, and enrol-
ment and attendance levels are lower. Only half of the poorest 10% of the population are
literate, compared to 88.4% of the richest 10%.
TABLE 5: DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ACCORDING TO INCOME LEVEL FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES
(AS MEASURED BY THE HDI EDUCATION COMPONENT)
India 0.64 0.548 0.629 0.69 0.705 0.7 1.276
Indonesia 0.832 0.746 0.807 0.84 0.874 0.921 1.234
Brazil 0.888 0.682 0.854 0.935 0.986 1 1.467
South Africa 0.843 0.836 0.84 0.846 0.846 0.846 1.012
Differences in quality of education, particularly between rural and urban areas, perpetuate the
trenches between the social strata. Turkey is one of three OECD countries that spend more on
the education of its rich children than on the poor.147 Such a divided education system means
that in Mexico, just to cover the MXN$88,000 (approximately US$5,400) of annual fees to send
their child to private kindergarten,148 a worker receiving the minimum wage would first need
to work for four full years. At the other extreme, of the CNY1.77 million (approximately
US$280,000, or 3% of their average wealth) that Chinese millionaires spend on average each
year, 20% goes on their childrens schooling, and more than 85% of these super-rich plan to
send their children abroad for education.149
THE GENDER GAP
All of the BRICSAMIT countries display important gender inequalities (Table 6). As
such, women still receive incrementally less schooling than men, the higher the
educational level considered. For income levels a large gap persists, even in Brazil
where the female population appears to complete more years of school than their
male peers. Although this gap is also consistently present in the top HDI countries,150
it is extraordinarily large in the BRICSAMIT countries, notably in India and Turkey,
where the percentage of womens income to mens reaches 29% and 31% respectively
(followed by Mexico with 46%). This massive gender pay gap cannot be explained
away by womens lower schooling levels, and exists in both the formal and informal
sectors.151 Women are also continually disadvantaged in the labour market: for
example, Turkey and India see less than 30% of female participation.
TABLE 6: GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
country 2012 ratio female income Female labor parliament % of high
secondary edu- (% of male) force participa- seats held by level man-
cation (female/ 2012 tion % 2012 women (%) agement
male) (2013) positions
occupied by
Russian Federation 97 65.7 57.0 12.1 <5
Turkey 79 31.1 29.4 14.2 10 20
Mexico 95 45.7 45 36 5 10
Brazil 103 60.9 59.5 9.6 5 10
China 87 68.7 63.8 23.4 5 10
Indonesia 91 48.8 51.3 18.6 5 10
South Africa 97 56.1 44.2 41.1 10 20
India 76 29.1 28.8 10.9 <5
Source: Data from UNDP (2014)152
The percentage of seats in Parliament occupied by women is particularly low in the
BRICSAMIT.153 Likewise, less than 5% of high-level management positions are occu-
pied by women in Russia and India, while only one woman enters the list of 50
wealthiest Indonesians. Thus, although there have been advances towards greater
gender equality especially in terms of health and to a lesser degree education vast
disparities continue to exist between women and their male peers in the realms of
income, labour-market participation and positions of political and economic power.
CRIME AND UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH
The BRICSAMIT countries, particularly Russia and South Africa, have some of the
highest incarceration rates in the world.154 The group most affected by this policing
strategy is that of young economically disadvantaged males from ethnic minorities,
which populate the overcrowded prisons. In India, marginalized groups such as Dalits,
Adivasis and Muslims are significantly overrepresented in the prison populations.155
This form of repression is combined with high impunity levels: in Mexico in 2013, 98%
of murder cases remained unresolved.156 Such deficient and skewed political-judicial
systems create inequalities before the law, which increase exposure to violence and
crime for particular, vulnerable groups.157
With the exception of Indonesia, all of the BRICSAMIT countries display high homicide
rates by international standards. Brazil and Mexico (together with Colombia and
Venezuela, representing about 5% of the global population), account for one-quarter
of worldwide homicides.158 But these deaths are not equally distributed across their
populations. In Brazil, murder is now the leading cause of death for young men.159 A
strong economic bias means that the vast majority of violence takes place on just a
few street corners in a given city, at certain times of the day, and among specific
people. The discriminatory remnants of ethnic division and colonialism mean that, in
the case of Brazil, those segments of the population most affected are young black
males.160 Driven by rapid unregulated urbanization, a youth bulge in growing cities
and weak policing, justice systems and penal institutions, income and social inequali-
ty give rise to above-average rates of violent crime and the resultant victim pat-
terns.161
Children are particularly vulnerable. According to UNICEF, in 1994 there were 11
million street children in India, a number that is likely to have increased significantly
since then.162 Additionally, in 2001, the government registered about 12 million
working children between 5-14 years old, although unofficial estimates put the
number as high as 60 million.163 Those children belonging to the Dalit, Adivasis or
Muslim minorities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of poverty on social
exclusion (see Box 5).
BOX 5: SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN INDIA
Alongside income inequality, unequal and exclusionary treatment of specific groups
is widespread in India (as in many other countries), where state institutions, policies
and laws both in their design and functioning tend to mirror, produce and
reproduce discrimination and exploitation based on gender, caste, class, religion and
disability. For access to such diverse public goods as education, urban housing,
decent work in labour markets and legal justice in relation to anti-terror legislation, it
is the same groups that are most severely and consistently excluded namely
women, Muslims and persons with disabilities, and people from scheduled groups
such as Dalits and Adivasis. An individual, household or group combining several of
the characteristics that are discriminated against is likely to experience deeper
exclusion.
Housing conditions provide an example of this exclusionary treatment: 78% to 88% of
female-headed households that belong to one of the marginalized groups do not
have a latrine, compared to 53% of all households nationally. Access to housing
finance has clear exclusions along religious, caste and class lines, and it is common to
find a preference for male tenants in low-income settlements in India. These and
other exclusionary practices leave women highly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse
and violence, and largely coincide with general discriminatory attitudes and practices
towards women, as well as their lower social status.
The exclusionary nature of law and justice in India clearly manifests itself in the
overrepresentation of marginalized groups in its prison population, particularly of
under-trial prisoners who are yet to be convicted for their alleged crime. While
making up 38.6 % of the total population, Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims together
account for 53.5% of the convicted prison population and 56.7% of the under-trial
prison population.
Traditional patterns of social discrimination along the lines of caste, gender, religion
and tribes go hand in hand with income inequality. Poverty rates are 14% higher
among Dalits compared to non-scheduled groups. Moreover, the 2.7% average
annual poverty reduction falls to 2.1% for the Dalits while for Muslims in urban areas
it is only 1.8%, suggesting that these inequalities are growing wider particularly
when regional disparities are taken into account.
Even in comparison with other vulnerable groups, data on the situation of Muslims is
stark. In 2009-10, only 30.4% of Muslim workers in urban areas received regular
salaries compared to 39.7% of the total population, and their working conditions
were generally much worse than those of other regular workers, including Dalits and
Adivasis. The only group that displays even lower paid employment levels are persons
with disabilities, of whom only 26.3% were engaged in gainful economic activities.
This number decreases to 10.4% for disabled women, and falls as low as 5.6% for
mentally disabled persons.
Based on such data, the India Exclusion Report 2013-14 concludes that the consistent
exclusion of these communities from just and equitable access to diverse public
goods suggests that both in their design and functioning state institutions, policies
and laws tend to mirror, produce and reproduce discrimination and exploitation
based on gender, caste, class, religion and disability.
Sources: Mander 2014 and Dubochet 2013164
The accumulation of these social inequalities in vulnerable groups implies a likely
intergenerational transmission of underprivileged positions, where the wealthy both
earn higher incomes and enjoy greater health and education levels. Poor parents, on
the other hand, cannot afford to send their children to expensive private schools,
increasing their likelihood of working in informal sector jobs with less health protection,
and continuously low incomes to pass on to their children, and so forth. Neglecting
future prospects of large parts of youth in this way seems like the chronicle of a disaster
foretold in a context where close to 30% of the population is under 15 years old.165,166
This impediment to social mobility means that cycles of inequality perpetuation are
created, where the drivers of disadvantage simultaneously become its consequences.
INEQUALITY UNDERMINES DEVELOPMENT
In sum, the persistent and reproducing inequalities in the BRICSAMIT countries are
based on income and wealth differences and run along gender, ethnic, geographical,
historical-institutional and generational divides. The list of their drivers and conse-
quences is long: differences in exposure to environmental hazards; threats of violence
and repression; unequal access to resources including healthcare, social protection
and education. The two-tier health and education systems whereby the rich can
afford expensive private schools and hospitals while the poor have to rely on un-
der-equipped public versions further increase vulnerability for those who are already
underprivileged. The high crime rates and elevated levels of impunity, particularly in
Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, signify additional risks to health and limit the opportunities
for future catching up. Compensation by public transfer programmes, where it exists, is
insufficient to overcome the deep chasm, both regionally and along the lines of
gender and ethnic divides. The vast informal sectors signify a lack of job and hence
income security, which inhibits especially poor people from making longer-term plans
and appropriate investments; it also creates barriers to employment and career
progression for women. In other words: inequality permeates all areas of life.
The combination of high informality and inadequate state provision in health,
education and social protection mean that, within the BRICSAMIT countries, inequali-
ties play a more significant role for societal well-being than they do for more devel-
oped countries. This is clearly shown when we compare the gap between HDI and its
inequality-adjusted version.167 The BRICSAMIT countries score in terms of human
development decreases on average by 21%, compared to 8.4% in the top-scoring
countries (Figure 10), meaning that inequality in the former has a stronger negative
effect on the indicators three dimensions health, education and income.
FIGURE 10: INEQUALITY-ADJUSTED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX FOR THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES AND
THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Overall HDI 2013
Inequality-adjusted
0.8 HDI 2013
5. FIRST STEPS TO
ADDRESS INEQUALITY
IN THE BRICSAMIT
The shifts in income and wealth distribution of the BRICSAMIT countries in the past
three decades point to the importance of local conditions for inequality outcomes.
Besides the highly unequally distributed accumulation and flow of financial resources
across population groups, social inequalities for instance in health and education
are also vast. Such inequalities are both cause and consequence of a set of power
inequalities embedded in the respective historical-institutional environments of the
These multiple and overlapping inequalities hinder the utilization of the full potential
of a society. Economic development in terms of economic growth remains below its
potential level in a context of inadequate investment and elite blockage of innovative
policies. Extremely limited access to affordable and quality education decreases
economic prospects on the personal and societal level, and limits the potential of
social emancipation. Two-tier health systems that keep large parts of the population
at health levels below the countrys potential are likely to become a drag on public
finances, as well as limiting individual capabilities. Income differences imply both
differences in social status and in the ability to shape ones future, for instance
because pension systems are precarious for those who cannot afford private pension
schemes during working age. Thus, the development of personal capabilities is
severely hampered for large parts of the population that are less free to pursue their
own life aspirations.
Lack of social cohesion and societal malfunctions in highly unequal societies also
include the erosion of trust. This further strains quality of life: if people start feeling
uncomfortable around their peers, in their neighbourhood, with their fellow humans,
because they fear or despise, envy or pity them, or because insecure and often violent
environments around them lead them to assume the worst of strangers how will
they live comfortably and happily, even if they happen to be so lucky as to be at the
high end of the income distribution?
One of the reasons why it is so difficult to significantly ameliorate inequalities is that
high income and wealth inequality obstruct egalitarian policy making where the elite
is predominantly engaged in extractive sectors. These industries offer a large poten-
tial for rent-seeking. Since they are central to the countries development strategies,
they also grant important political leverage.
Yet it is possible to break the vicious cycle of inequality that is perpetuated by
repressive and exclusionary processes, and instead create a virtuous cycle of egalitari-
an and inclusive policy making as a precondition for tackling the root causes of
inequality. Below are five areas for governments to include in their concerted strategy
to fight inequalities and achieve more prosperous, equal societies both mitigating
the consequences of current inequality, and preventing new inequalities from arising.
CONCLUSIONS AND WAYS FORWARD
1 Re-frame the economic development model, and ensure that public interest,
protection of human rights and reduction of inequality forms the core of the
developmental agenda. This applies both within the BRICSAMIT countries but also in
terms of the investment and cooperation model these countries are increasingly
engaged in overseas, particularly in low-income countries.
In light of the spectacular disparities outlined in this report, policy answers to date
have been rather timid. The bias towards growth, and the perception of inequality as
a necessary by-product of the development process that would in time decrease
naturally, have contributed to the limited response to inequality. All along, the
assumption has been that for a country to overcome its development challenges, the
willingness to accept an initial increase in inequality was necessary, following the
logic that it first needs to get worse before it can get better.
The belief in a supposed efficiency-equality trade-off, where increases in growth are
assumed to be necessarily associated with decreases in equality, is only slowly
abating. The way development is currently pursued in the BRICSAMIT countries, via
economic models based largely on resource extraction and rent-seeking is inherently
unequalizing, and more emphasis needs to be placed on who gains from growth.
Moving away from growth as the primary objective, at all costs, and prioritizing
instead the public good and well-being of society constitutes an important step in
reducing inequality. The old economic model must be replaced with a new one,
where equality forms the core of the developmental agenda. Some leaders, for
instance in Indonesia and Brazil, have started to embrace the objective of decreasing
inequality. The space for civil society and academia to participate in framing such
discourse is opening.
2 Reform the regulatory environment, particularly around transparency in govern-
ment. There is a need for measures that restrict conflict of interest; to decouple
business from campaign financing; cooling periods to close revolving doors between
big business and government; and binding disclosure of personal gains and contribu-
tors as well as the proper enforcement of these regulations.
A narrow elite is able to influence election outcomes in many of the BRICSAMIT
countries through a variety of strategies, including campaign finance, rent-seeking,
high mobility and constant shifting between positions of political and economic influ-
ence, i.e. revolving door strategies, etc. Therefore, to change distributional patterns
requires consideration of both the legal framework and the rule of law in a just
manner. Unless these institutions are changed, policies targeting inequality will
continue to address the consequences of inequality rather than its root causes, and
will thus remain palliative. These root causes can only be altered by changing the
framework. As Porter (2015) summarizes: subsidies, tax treatment, legal protection
and other mechanisms conspire to aid the wealthy while often serving to damp
economic gains.169 It is widely recognized that these regulations ultimately stem from
historical and socio-cultural conventions. But that they can indeed be altered has
been shown, e.g. with the recent change in electoral regulations to accommodate
independent candidates in Mexico170 and a possible ban on corporate election
finance on the horizon in Brazil. This certainly proves that the perceived iron grip of
an extractive elite can be eased.
What is needed are programmes restricting conflict of interest; delinking business
from campaign financing (for instance through provision of public funds for cam-
paigns, as practised in South Africa); cooling periods to close revolving doors in both
directions, i.e. from and to decision-making positions in business and politics; and
binding disclosure of personal gains and contributors as well as the proper enforce-
ment of these regulations.
One example of an interesting measure towards accountability is the 2014 creation of
the National Transparency Institute (IFAI) in Mexico, which has the power to demand
disclosure of information on the publics behalf. Although it remains to be seen how
effective this will be in terms of increasing transparency and empowering citizens, it is
an important step towards establishing accountability mechanisms.
3 Achieve a fair pre-distribution of incomes through formalizing informal jobs,
raising minimum wages, creating employment and increasing the bargaining
power of workers.
Achieving an increasingly equitable and inclusive society will only be possible if and
when pre-distributive policies, i.e. those measures that correct the so-called market
distribution, including, most importantly, labour policies, and redistributive policies,
such as progressive taxation and transfers, are applied in parallel. The recent decades
weakening of unions, the proliferation of trade agreements that prioritize the inter-
ests of corporations over workers rights, the tightening of intellectual property rights
and the rise of finance, as well as a consolidation of strategic industry reducing
competition across the economy, constitute some examples of negative pre-distribu-
tion policies that fail to protect the majority of citizens, who lack the economic
affluence necessary to benefit from such regulation. These policies have weakened
the bargaining power of workers, while entrenching a legal framework with rules that
lock in inequality.171 Hence the reversal of these policies, which have been widespread
and popular over recent decades, could yield some significant advances. Raising the
minimum wage, improving labour protection through measures such as formalizing
jobs, and government-investment policies for the creation of jobs are all examples of
how pre-distribution policies could lead to a positive result on income distribution.
Such an approach has been successfully implemented in Brazil, which has accelerated
its two-decade-old revaluation strategy of minimum wages over the past five years. In
a countercyclical manner, the strategy to boost domestic consumption saw regular
adjustments of the minimum wage level to inflation plus GDP growth.172 This im-
proved inequality levels from below by increasing gains for those at the bottom of
the income distribution. However, this contrasts sharply with the case of Mexico,
where minimum wage levels lie below the poverty line, with a real-terms value that is
70% below their 1980 level.173
4 Achieve redistribution and strengthen tax systems by filling loopholes for tax
evasion and aggressive tax planning; increasing top income-tax levels; and revising
tax incentives for large corporations. Recognize the problem of rapidly increasing
wealth inequality, and thus apply a high-threshold wealth tax in the form of inheritance
tax or a tax on capital gains. Such a tax would have considerable redistributive impacts,
as well as fill the public accounts, which in turn provide resources for more effective
social policies and provision of public services.
Application of redistributive policies, together with a regulatory environment that
prevents political and economic capture by small interest groups, a stronger bargain-
ing position of workers, and following an overall developmental objective of equality,
could be very effective in curbing inequalities. Currently, the tax systems in the
BRICSAMIT countries play a smaller role in easing market-driven inequalities than they
could. Besides the tax structure and the discussion on its degree of progressivity, their
fiscal policies deliver only modest redistribution.
Fiscal policies are infested with evasion and administrative bottlenecks due to high
levels of unregistered self-employment and informal sectors that limit the capacity of
tax authorities to verify taxpayers declared income. In India, where tax evasion has
allegedly become a national sport, an estimated INR800 billion (US$12bn) is lost
every year because of corporate tax incentives,174 and up to an estimated US$2 trillion
of illicit money more than Indias GDP is stored abroad.175 Thus, the BRICSAMIT
countries tax systems could improve the income distribution, for instance through
filling loopholes for tax evasion and elusion; increasing top income-tax levels and
making the tax structure more progressive; and revising tax incentives for foreign
investors and corporations.
Additionally, in view of the particular problem of rapidly increasing wealth inequality,
the application of a high-threshold wealth tax, in the form of inheritance tax or a tax
on capital gains (currently voluntary in India), could have considerable redistributive
impacts. All of these would have the beneficial side-effect that not only do they
improve the distribution from above, but also fill the public accounts. This provides
resources for more progressive social policies and, importantly, protects the state
from capture by narrow interest groups through decreasing its resource dependence.
Conveniently, it would also improve registers of wealth held, thereby potentially
helping to curb illegal outflows of capital.
Currently, coverage and generosity of social protection systems in the BRICSAMIT
countries are low compared to OECD countries: social spending is highest in Brazil
and Russia, where it represents about three-quarters of the OECD average, while
China and India have three to four times lower levels than OECD average.176 The
combination of weak transfer systems and tax regimes that are not very progressive -
where the income distribution after fiscal policies have been applied barely changes
compared to the market outcome - is an area of significant opportunity for redistribu-
tion in the BRICSAMIT countries.
5 Ameliorate the symptoms via inclusive social policy. In order to enhance well-be-
ing across society and to reduce inequality, ensure there are more concerted
efforts to provide public healthcare, education and social protection, allowing access
for everybody, particularly those who have been excluded in the past.
Finally, the consequences of inequalities can be dealt with more effectively if a func-
tioning tax system is in place, since it provides resources to be distributed. Active
redistribution via a progressive tax system allows for a more generous transfer system
towards the provision of public goods for everybody. Universal access to unconditional
transfers should be the aim to mitigate remaining market inequalities. Public health-
care, social protection and education must ensure access for everybody, to enable
citizens full participation in public life and a level playing field, i.e. equality of opportu-
nity. Basic income proposals, as are discussed in many developed countries, and most
recently enshrined in law in Finland, can ensure a safety net for all citizens also in the
BRICSAMIT countries. Such a scheme would also finally end extreme poverty.
In sum, the countries must ensure a more concerted strategy than that which is
currently employed, taking advantage of future growth to benefit the well-being of
larger parts of their populations, alongside more active equality-enhancing policies.
The BRICSAMIT countries have used several of the policies outlined to varying
degrees. Yet a sustainable pro-equality strategy would require a comprehensive set of
policies combining measures from all five of these dimensions. Considering their
different approaches and partial coverage of selective policy areas, the BRICSAMIT
countries can benefit a great deal from incorporating their peers policies into their
own set of strategies.
Moreover, civil society as an important stakeholder in the debate on curbing extreme
inequality can be a strong ally for progressing towards more inclusive and sustain-
able societies. Civil society brings the vital first-hand perspectives of people who
experience poverty and marginalization, as well as analysis of policy responses, and
knowledge of what works and what does not work in terms of reducing inequality.
Porter emphasizes that the power of money in politics should never be underestimat-
ed.177 But institutions can be changed and do change. Therefore, if something is really
to be done about inequality, this is where it must be approached. So far, the
BRICSAMIT countries, although aiming to challenge the old global order, are follow-
ing a similar economic logic. Although they have enshrined equal rights for all in their
constitutions, the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few seems
rather stable for the time being. But it can and should be challenged by the
countries citizens. This could be the historical moment where they break with the
current economic complacency, and together start on a new, more equal path,
towards empowerment of the many.
1	This natural trajectory of inequality dynamics, first formulated by economist Simon Kuznets in the 1950s, seemed to fit the
empirical patterns observed in the developed countries distributions then.
2	The World Bank puts Brazilian per capita income at purchasing power parity at I$16,155 and its Gini at 52.7 (World Bank 2015;
World Development Indicators. [online] Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators [Last
accessed 9 June 2015]). Germany had a per capita income of I$16,273 (PPP) in 1977 (Public Purpose (2000): http://www.
publicpurpose.com/lm-ppp60+.htm Last accessed: 09.06.2015.) when its Gini was 24.7 (Atkinson, A.B. and S. Morelli (2014). The
Chartbook of Economic Inequality. http://www.chartbookofeconomicinequality.com/inequality-by-country/germany/ Last
accessed: 07.08.2015.).
3	World Bank (2015). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators. Last
accessed: 09.08.2015.
4 Forbes (2015). The Worlds Billionaires Available at http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ last accessed 20.11.2015
5	120th of 136 countries according to the annual report by the World Economic Forum (2013): The Global Gender Gap Report 2013
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2013.pdf .
6	Esquivel, G. (2015). Desigualdad Extrema en Mxico. Concentracin del Poder Econmico y Poltico, http://cambialasreglas.org/
images/desigualdadextrema_informe.pdf. Last accessed: 07.08.2015.
7	For research covering many decades using data from e.g. the World Bank, OECD, WIDER, World Top Income Database, and/or
regional databases like SEDLAC, Eurostat, etc. See, for instance, Piketty (2014) Capital in the 21st Century, Atkinson (2015), Palma,
J.G. (2011). Homogeneous Middles vs. Heterogeneous Tails, and the End of the Inverted-U: the Share of the Rich is what its all
about. Development and Change, 42(1).
8 World Bank (2015), op. cit.
9	Pew Research Center (2013). Inequality and Economic Mobility, chapter 5 in Economies of Emerging Markets Better Rated During
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12 IMF asserts negative effects of inequality on growth (IMF (2015a). Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global
Perspective, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1513.pdf. Last accessed: 09.06.2015.); OECD estimates that
inequality cost its member countries 4.7% of cumulative growth between 1990 and 2010 (OECD (2015b). In It Together. Why Less
Inequality Benefits All. http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECD2015-In-It-Together-Chapter1-Overview-Inequality.pdf. Last accessed:
09.06.2015.), reaching 10% for Mexico (Esquivel, G. (2015). Op. cit.).
13	World Bank (2015). Op cit.
14 Bourguignon, F. (2015). The Globalization of Inequality. Princeton University Press: Princeton (US).
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soc/OECD2014-FocusOnTopIncomes.pdf . Last accessed: 01.08.2014.
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18 World Bank (2015). Op. cit.
19 There is discussion about whether basing poverty-reduction achievements on measurements of those living on less than US$1.25
per day is adequate, considering the status of high and medium development countries compared. Indeed in most of the
BRICSAMIT countries, the cost of living, particularly in cities, is comparable to high-income countries in Europe or North America,
whereas poverty in the EU, for instance, is measured as 60% of national median income rather than the absolute threshold of
extreme poverty.
20 World Bank (2015). Op cit.
21	Krozer, A. And J.C. Moreno-Brid (2014). Inequality in Mexico. World Economics Association 4(5): 4-6. This number is obtained from
household surveys and therefore differs from the per capita income as stated in Table 1, which is calculated on the basis of
national accounts. In 2014, the average Mexican household has 3.8 members, and a trimonthly household income of
MXN$39,742, according to INEGI.
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27 Forbes (2015). Op. cit.
28 Although probably the most frequently used inequality measure today, the Gini should be complemented by other indicators to
get a more nuanced picture of inequality, because it emphasizes changes in the middle of the distribution over those at the ends.
The Palma and Palma v.2, which divide the income share of the richest 10% and 5% of the population, respectively, over that of
the poorest 40% to explicitly focus on changes in the top and bottom of the distribution, provides complementing insights,
besides being more straightforward in its interpretation (for an elaboration on these points, see e.g. Palma 2011, Cobham and
Sumner 2013, and Krozer 2015).
30	See reference 28 above for an explanation of the Palma.
31	A general empirical pattern of the income distribution that Palma (2011) has dubbed the 50-50 rule: the phenomenon of the 50%
middle-income earners in deciles 5-9 securing 50% of total income.
32 Milanovic, B. (2014). Op. cit.
34	These numbers are based on household survey data, which significantly understate actual concentration at the top.
37	These numbers are based on tax data, which, although arguably still underreported, are more accurate in estimating top incomes
compared to the data obtainable from household surveys used so far. However, they do not provide information on the lower
income groups, so cannot at this point substitute household surveys where there is interest in developments at the bottom of the
distribution. Besides, such data are not widely available for the emerging countries.
38	Although the richest 1% only owned 8-9% of total incomes according to latest available records in these two countries, these
shares are likely to have increased significantly since 1999 and 2004, respectively.
39	Esquivel, G. (2015). Op. cit.
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49	Higgins et al. (2014). Op. cit.
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52	Average wealth levels between 2000 and 2014 went from US$2,920 to US$19,590 in Russia; US$5,670 to US$21,330 in China;
US$8,400 to US$25,800 in South Africa; US$7,900 to US$23,400 in Brazil. In 2014 they were at US$4,650 in India and US$9,742 in
Indonesia. Recently, average wealth in US$-terms has fallen everywhere due to adverse exchange rate movements (Credite Suisse
(2014) op. cit.), including China, as of August 2015.
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56	Bourguignon, F. (2015). The Globalization of Inequality. Princeton University Press: Princeton (US).
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65 Credite Suisse (2014b). Op. cit.
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79	However, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled in March 2015 that privatization of water provision in the city had to be reversed.
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com/59022/costo-de-la-educacion-en-mexico-y-el-mundo-que-conviene-mas/. Last accessed 20.08.2015.
81	Winters, P. and J. Mao (2014). Where Chinas elite are taught a global view, Agence France Press Weekend, 22 December 2014,
http://www.afr.com/news/world/asia/where-chinas-elite-are-taught-a-global-view-20141221-12bvn8
82	Sandhurst is the richest neighbourhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, home to 130 multi-millionaires (net wealth of over US$10
million) (Ujuh (2015). Multi millionaires like Sandhurst, Hyde Park, Zimbali 11 March 2015, http://www.ujuh.co.za/multi-
millionaires-like-sandhurst-hyde-park-zimbali-umhlanga-bishopscourt-etc/).
83 Frank, R. (2015). For the New Superrich, Life Is Much More Than a Beach, The New York Times, 20 June 2015, http://www.nytimes.
com/2015/06/21/business/for-the-new-superrich-life-is-much-more-than-a-beach.html?_r=0
84	Antunes, A. (2014). The 15 Richest Families In Brazil, Forbes, 13 May 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/
andersonantunes/2014/05/13/the-15-richest-families-in-brazil/
85	Credite Suisse (2014). Op. cit.; Antunes, A. (2014). The 15 Richest Families In Brazil, Forbes, 13 May 2014, http://www.forbes.com/
sites/andersonantunes/2014/05/13/the-15-richest-families-in-brazil/; Antunes, A. (2013). The Richest People In Brazil 2013: The
Full List, 9 September 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2013/09/09/the-richest-people-in-brazil-2013-the-
full-list/
87	Lee, J. (2011). Chinas Rich Lists Riddled With Communist Party Members, Forbes, 14 September 2011, http://www.forbes.
com/2011/09/14/china-rich-lists-opinions-contributors-john-lee.html
88	In 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went to Mr. Ambanis private housewarming of his 27-story mansion in Mumbai
(Daily Mail (2010). Billionaire Indian tycoon throws a lavish house-warming for 80 guests at the 630 million Taj Mahal of the 21st
century, 29 November 2010, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333849/Mukesh-Ambani-s-housewarming-party-80-
guests-630m-21st-century-Taj-Mahal.html).
89	Karmali, N. (2014). For The First Time, Indias 100 Of 2014 Are All Billionaires, Forbes, 24 September 2014, http://www.forbes.com/
sites/naazneenkarmali/2014/09/24/indias-100-richest-of-2014-are-all-billionaires-for-the-first-time/.
90	Particularly three fellow Gujaratis are rubbing their hands in glee: port magnate Gautam Adani added U$4.5bn to his wealth since
his personal friend Modi became prime minister, pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi saw his wealth grow by US$4.1 billion, and
Mukesh Ambani is the countrys richest man for the eighth year in a row (Karmali 2014).
91 Forbes (2014). Hartono Brothers Top Forbes Indonesia Rich List, 4 December 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/
forbespr/2014/12/04/hartono-brothers-top-forbes-indonesia-rich-list/
92	Melby, C. (2013). South Africa Tops Africas 50 Richest, Johann Rupert Is Countrys Richest Man, Forbes 13 November 2013, http://
www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2013/11/13/south-africa-tops-africas-50-richest-johann-rupert-is-countrys-richest-man/.
93	Fedorinova, Y., M. Kolesnikova and A. Sazonov (2013). Russias Oligarchs Ditch Oil and Gold to Pile Up Cash Bloomberg, 28
February 2013, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-02-28/russias-oligarchs-ditch-oil-and-gold-to-pile-up-cash.
94	CNBC (2015). Russias Rosneft chief earns up to $4.7M in basic salary, 5 May 2015, http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/05/russias-
rosneft-chief-igor-sechin-earns-up-to-47m-in-basic-salary.html.
95	Ibid.
96	RT (2013). Russias Richest: Forbes publishes billionaire list, RT Question More 18 April 2013, http://rt.com/business/russias-
richest-billionaire-forbes-list-059/.
97	Rapoza, K. (2015).Russia Warns Of Capital Flight, Market Considers Capital Controls, Forbes, 2 March 2015, http://www.forbes.
com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/03/02/russia-warns-of-capital-flight-market-considers-capital-controls/
98	Lundstl, O. 2014). Domestic Consequences of Illicit Financial Flows, Proceedings for GFI-MINDS conference in Rio De Janeiro, 9
99	UNDP (2014). 2014 Human Development Statistical Table, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data, accessed 10.10.2015
100 Acemoglu, D. and J.A. Robinson (2012). Op. cit.
101 The 2014 elections in India cost US$4.9bn, making them the second most expensive in world history (The Economist (2014).
Black money power, 4 May 2014, http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/05/campaign-finance-india).
102 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) (2015). http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=30.
103 Sinha, A. (2015). The dirty secret of Indian politics that neither the AAP nor the BJP are debating, Quartz India 5 February 2015,
http://qz.com/338821/the-dirty-secret-of-indian-politics-that-neither-the-aap-nor-the-bjp-are-debating/.
104 IDEA (2015). Op. cit.
105 Thompson, N. (2012). International campaign finance: How do countries compare?, CNN 5 March 2012, http://edition.cnn.
com/2012/01/24/world/global-campaign-finance/.
106 As a consequence of the recent accusations of corruption involving Petrobras and high-ranking politicians, Brazil is currently
discussing a ban on corporate election finance.
107	Boas, T.C., F.D. Hidalgo and N.P. Richardson (2014). The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in
Brazil, The Journal of Politics, Vol. 76, No. 2, April 2014, pp. 415.
108 Thompson, N. (2012). Op. cit.
109 Adler, D. (2015). The Revolutionary Election That Wasnt, Jacobin Magazine, 22 June 2015, https://www.jacobinmag.
com/2015/06/mexico-election-pri-nieto-ayotzinapa/
110 Boas, T.C. et al. (2014). Op. cit.
111 Guriev, S. and A. Rachinsky (2005). The Role of Oligarchs in Russian Capitalism, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 19,
Number 1, Winter 2005, pages 131150.
112 Mexicos football coach investigated over election tweets, The Guardian (2015), 9 June 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/
world/2015/jun/09/mexico-football-coach-miguel-herrera-green-party-twitter.
113 Watts, J. (2014). Dilma Rousseff pledges unity after narrow Brazil election victory, The Guardian, 27 October 2015, http://www.
theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/26/brazil-re-elects-dilma-rousseff-president.
114 Estevez, D. (2014). Real Life Mexican Soap Opera: Broadcaster Televisa Gave Two Homes To The First Lady, Forbes 14 November
2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2014/11/14/real-life-mexican-soap-opera-broadcaster-televisa-gave-two-
homes-to-the-first-lady/.
115 Shukla, A. (2014). Its official: Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries now controls news broadcaster Network18 Group, The
Financial Express, 30 May 2014, http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/its-official-mukesh-ambanis-reliance-industries-now-
controls-news-broadcaster-network18-group/1255468.
116 Ackerman, J.M. (2014). Conflictos de inters, Proceso, 3 July 2014, http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=376318
117 Adler, D. (2015). Op. cit.
118	Pew Research Center (2014). Crime and Corruption Top Problems in Emerging and Developing Countries, 5 November 2014,
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/11/06/crime-and-corruption-top-problems-in-emerging-and-developing-countries/
country-issues-report-10/.
119 Tucker, D. (2015). Mexico elections: The surreal list of candidates reads more like the line-up of a TV panel show and the
countrys long-suffering voters are not amused, The Independent, 8 August 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/
americas/mexico-elections-the-surreal-list-of-candidates-reads-more-like-the-lineup-of-a-tv-panel-show--and-the-countrys-
longsuffering-voters-are-not-amused-10204249.html.
120 Huellas de Mxico (2014). Quien es Hinojosa Cant, el duque de los privilegios, 10 November 2014, http://huellas.mx/
nacional/2014/11/10/quien-es-hinojosa-cantu-el-duque-de-los-privilegios/.
121 These include a US$3.4bn contract over the construction of Latin Americas largest aqueduct (Luhnow D. and S. Prez (2014).
Mexico Digs Into Ties Between Leader, Builder, The Wall Street Journal, 3 December 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/
mexico-digs-into-ties-between-leader-builder-1417657132) and the renovation of the presidential hangar through direct
assignment worth MXN945.5 million (US$58.5m) in 2014 (CNNExpansin (2014). 7 datos sobre Grupo Higa, la empresa de
Hinojosa Cant 12 December 2014, http://www.cnnexpansion.com/negocios/2014/12/12/7-datos-sobre-grupo-higa-la-
empresa-de-hinojosa-cantu).
122 Ley Federal de Responsabilidades Administrativas de los Servidores Pblicos: Second Title, Chapter 1, Article 8, Paragraph 11.
123 Pemex (2014). Form 20-F: Annual Report to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, filed by Petrleos Mexicanos,
http://www.ri.pemex.com/files/content/Pemex_2013_Form%2020-F.pdf.
124	Forbes (2015). The Worlds Billionaires.
125 Of those, 72.5% were PRI; 14.3% PAN; and 10.6% of the left parties, former and current (Rodrguez, E.D. (2015). Reyes del
Chapulinazo, El Universal, 29 April 2015, http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion-mexico/2015/reyes-del-chapulinazo-1096105.
html).
126 Gonzlez, J.D. (forthcoming). The Political Economy of Inequality in Chile: The Role of Institutions and Power, Oxford Handbook
of BRICS and Emerging Markets, preliminary draft.
127 Although China retains some elements of central planning, effectively all the BRICSAMIT are (now) market economies.
128 McQuaig, L. and N. Brooks (2013). The Trouble With Billionaires: How the Super-Rich Hijacked the World (and How We Can Take it
Back), Oneworld Publications: London.
129 The annual UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) bundles the aspects of health, education and economic resources into one
measure in an attempt to better describe human development, ranking countries according to their aggregated position. The
BRICSAMIT countries occupy positions of high- and mid-level development. Of the group, Russia is the most developed at the
57th spot out of 187 countries, followed by Turkey (69), Mexico (71), Brazil (79), China (91), Indonesia (108), South Africa (118) and
finally India (135). For disaggregation by income, comparable data is unfortunately only available for India, Indonesia, Brazil and
South Africa. Unless otherwise specified, numbers in this section are taken from UNDP (2014).
130 Numbeo (2015). Cost of Living Comparison Between Surabaya and Jakarta, http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_
cities.jsp?country1=Indonesia&country2=Indonesia&city1=Surabaya&city2=Jakarta
131 The BRICSAMIT countries host some of the worlds largest slums, including the Neza-Chalco-Itza area, with ca. 4 million
inhabitants in Mexico and the 1-million-strong Dharavi and other precarious neighbourhoods in India (Jacobson, M. (2007).
Dharavi: Mumbais Shadow City, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text).
132 Grimm, M., K. Harttgen, S. Klasen, M. Misselhorn, T. Munzi and T. Smeeding (2009). Inequality in Human Development: An
Empirical Assessment of 32 Countries, Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper Series nr. 519 http://www.lisdatacenter.org/
wps/liswps/519.pdf
133 These numbers are based on the countries life expectancy as of 2014.
134 For instance, some states have higher homicide rates than others, such as Guerrero in Mexico or Sao Paulo in Brazil, or face more
pollution due to industrial concentration or mining sector presence as in Northern Cape in South Africa.
135	The Seguro Popular has 57 million affiliates, most of whom do not have formal employment and means for private health
insurance (Cruz Martnez, A. (2015). Esperas de hasta tres horas para una consulta del Seguro Popular, La Jornada, 6 August
2015, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/06/08/sociedad/044n1soc).
136 Secretara de Salud (2004). Mdulo de Estimacin de Costos Hospitalarios. Direccin General de Planeacin y Desarrollo en
Salud, http://www.salud.gob.mx/unidades/cdi/documentos/DOCSAL7417.pdf.
137 GMK-Hurun (2013). The Chinese Millionaire Wealth Report 2013, GroupM Knowledge-Hurun, http://up.hurun.net/
Humaz/201312/20131218145315550.pdf.
138 On average, only half the population are satisfied with the quality of healthcare in the BRICSAMIT (Cruz Martnez 2015), though
reaching approval rates as low as 27% in Russia and 25% in Brazil (compared to 80-94% satisfaction in the HDI top ten countries).
139 Kanbur, R. (2014). Informality: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Economic and
Policy Research June 2014. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=15764
140 Global Fairness Initiative (2012). Informality in Emerging Markets: A Cross-Country Examination, http://www.globalfairness.org/
downloads/2012%20Informality%20FINAL.pdf.
141 UNDP (2014). 2014 Human Development Statistical Table, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data, accessed 10.10.2015
142 Social Pension Database (2015). Downloadable from Pension Watch at: http://www.pension-watch.net/about-social-pensions/
about-social-pensions/social-pensions-database/.
143 The BRICSAMIT countries average schooling of 8 years lags considerably behind the developed countries 12 years, although
Russia with 11.7 and South Africa with 9.9 years are not far off this level. Considering tertiary enrolment, however, all of the
BRICSAMIT countries fall significantly behind the top HDI countries; their average rate of just under 40% compared to almost
75% for the top HDI countries.
144	Mander, H. (2014). India Exclusion Report 2013-14, Books for Change, Bangalore, India. http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/
IndiaExclusionReport2013-2014.pdf.
145Ibid.
146 Grimm et. al. (2009). Op. cit.
147 The Economist (2015). An hereditary meritocracy, 24 January 2015, http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21640316-
children-rich-and-powerful-are-increasingly-well-suited-earning-wealth-and-power.
148	Ciudadanosenred (2011). Mejores escuelas DF, Zona Norte, http://ciudadanosenred.com.mx/zona-norte/.
149 Preferably to schools in the US, UK and Canada (GMK-Hurun 2013).
150 In Norway, e.g. women earn on average 80.5% of their male peers.
151 Mander, H. (2014). Op. cit.
153 With the exception of South Africa; however, the difference between male and female average incomes is also particularly high
154 In 2013, these amount to 475 and 294 per 100,000 people, respectively, compared to e.g. 30 in India (UNDP 2014).
156 Ferdman, R.A. (2013). 98% of murders in Mexico last year went unsolved, Quartz, 18 July 2013, http://qz.com/105952/98-of-
murders-in-mexico-last-year-went-unsolved/.
157 This can be at the hands of public authorities, exemplified by the large prison population in South Africa, or the repression of
public displays of discontent and press freedom in China, Turkey and Russia; executed by organized crime, as in Mexico and
Brazil; or based on rivalry between disadvantaged groups along ethnic or religious lines as in India and Indonesia.
158 Eisner, M (2015). Homicide Dispatch 1: How to Reduce Homicide Rate by 50% in the Next 30 Years, Igarap Institute August 2015.
159 For most of the 20th century, the Brazilian homicide rate was more in line with countries in North America and Western Europe.
Since the 1980s, it has climbed dramatically, mainly as a result of drug issues. Similarly, in Mexico, homicide rates skyrocketed in
the early years of this century due to the declaration of a war on drugs and the ensuing very bloody open rivalry among cartels
(Byrne 2015).
160 Instituto Igarap (2105). Homicide Monitor, http://igarape.org.br/en/homicide-globe/
161	Byrne, C. (2015). The Worlds Most Murderous Places, And Other Lessons From A Killer Map, 8 May 2015, http://www.
fastcompany.com/3046065/a-map-of-the-worlds-most-homicidal-places.
164	Ibid; Dubochet, L. (2013). India: Moving Towards Equal Opportunities For All?, Oxfam India August 2013.
165 World Bank (2015). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators. Last
166 Only for Russia and China are these numbers lower, at 16% and 18%, respectively.
167	In technical terms, the inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) accounts for inequalities in HDI dimensions by discounting each
dimensions average value according to its level of inequality, based on the Atkinson family of inequality measures. Without
inequality, a countrys HDI would be equivalent to its IHDI; the further inequality rises, the more the IHDI falls below the HDI.
UNDP thus describes the IHDI as the actual level of human development (taking into account inequality), while the HDI should
be viewed as an index of the potential human development that could be achieved if there were no inequality (UNDP (2013):
Human Development Report 2013. Technical Notes, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_2013_en_technotes.pdf .
169 Porter, E. (2015). What the Debate on Inequality Is Missing, The New York Times, 5 May 2015, http://www.nytimes.
com/2015/05/06/business/thinking-outside-the-debate-on-income-inequality.html?ref=topics.
170	In the state of Nuevo Leon an independent candidate became governor for the first time in 2015 (Ibarra, P. (2015). El Bronco
hace historia al ganar la eleccin de gobernador en Nuevo Len, CNN Mxico, 8 June 2015. http://mexico.cnn.com/
adnpolitico/2015/06/08/el-bronco-hace-historia-al-ganar-la-eleccion-de-gobernador-en-nuevo-leon).
171	Porter, E. (2015). Op. cit.
172	International Labor Organization (ILO) (2013b). Global Wage Report 2012/2013, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@
dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wcms_194843.pdf.
173	Krozer, A., J.C. Moreno-Brid and J.C. Rubio Badan (2015). Inequality and Minimum Wage Policy: Not Even Talking, Much Less
Walking in Mexico. Investigacin Econmica vol. 74, Issue 293, pp.3-26, July-September 2015
174	Dhara, T. and C. Thomas (2011). In India, Tax Evasion Is a National Sport, Bloomberg 28 June 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/
bw/magazine/in-india-tax-evasion-is-a-national-sport-07282011.html.
175	Biswas, S. (2014). Black money: Making a mountain out of a molehill?, 28 September 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/
world-asia-india-29797937.
176	OECD (2011). Special Focus: Inequality in the Emerging Economies, in Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising.
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