Title: The "yes, but" syndrome | The Economist
Headings: The "yes, but" syndrome
Poverty in Latin America
The "yes, but" syndrome
Content: The "yes, but" syndrome | The Economist
Poverty in Latin America
The "yes, but" syndrome
The Americas
Americas view
“YES, but” is one way to sum up recent economic history in Latin America. This week’s print coverage of the region contains both a broadly positive review of the effects of NAFTA, particularly on Mexico, and a sobering look at the effects of new tax rises on Mexico’s poor. An excellent piece of research on poverty and inequality released by the World Bank in July, but picked up again in the media this week, conforms to the same pattern of good news dampened by bad. The good news is very good. Extreme poverty is defined in Latin America as having less than $2.50 a day (at purchasing-power parity) to live on. The share of the region's population in this bracket fell from 26.3% in 1995 to 13.3% in 2011. The middle class, which the Bank defines as people living on $10-50 a day on the ground that this level of income reduces the chances of falling back into poverty over a five-year period to 10%, is growing fast. 2011 was the first year ever that more people in Latin America were classified as being middle class than being in poverty (living on $4 a day or less). In a group of countries that includes Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, this middle-class segment is now the largest slice of the population. That represents remarkable progress.