Racial inequalities and perinatal health in the southeast region of Brazil

Few studies are available about racial inequalities in perinatal health in Brazil and little is known about whether the existing inequality is due to socioeconomic factors or to racial discrimination per se. Data regarding the Ribeirão Preto birth cohort, Brazil, whose mothers were interviewed from June 1, 1978 to May 31, 1979 were used to answer these questions. The perinatal factors were obtained from the birth questionnaire and the ethnic data were obtained from 2063 participants asked about self-reported skin color at early adulthood (23-25 years of age) in 2002/2004. Mothers of mulatto and black children had higher rates of low schooling (£4 years, 27.2 and 38.0%) and lower family income (£1 minimum wage, 28.6 and 30.4%). Mothers aged less than 20 years old predominated among mulattos (17.0%) and blacks (14.0%). Higher rates of low birth weight and smoking during pregnancy were observed among mulatto individuals (9.6 and 28.8%). Preterm birth rate was higher among mulattos (9.5%) and blacks (9.7%) than whites (5.5%). White individuals had higher rates of cesarean delivery (34.9%). Skin color remained as an independent risk factor for low birth weight (P < 0.001), preterm birth (P = 0.01), small for gestational age (P = 0.01), and lack of prenatal care (P = 0.02) after adjustment for family income and maternal schooling, suggesting that the racial inequalities regarding these indicators are explained by the socioeconomic disadvantage experienced by mulattos and blacks but are also influenced by other factors, possibly by racial discrimination and/or genetics.

Social inequality and perinatal health: comparison of three Brazilian cohorts

The objective of the present study was to estimate and compare social inequality in terms of three indicators, i.e., low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB) and small for gestational age (SGA) birth, in three birth cohorts. Two cohorts were from the city of Ribeirão Preto, where data were collected for all 6748 live born singletons in 1978/79 and for one third of live born singletons (2846) in 1994. The third cohort consisted of 2443 singletons born in São Luís over a period of one year (1997/98). In Ribeirão Preto, LBW and PTB rates increased in all social strata from 1978/79 to 1994. Social inequalities regarding LBW and PTB disappeared since the increase in these rates was more accelerated in the groups with higher educational level. The percentage of SGA infants increased over the study period. Social inequality regarding SGA birth increased due to a more intense increase in SGA births in the strata with lower schooling. In São Luís, in 1997/98 there was no social inequality in LBW or PTB rates, whereas SGA birth rate was higher in mothers with less schooling. We speculate that the more accelerated increase in medical intervention, especially due to the increase in cesarean sections in the more privileged groups, could be the main factor explaining the unexpected increase in LBW and PTB rates in Ribeirão Preto and the decrease or disappearance of social inequality regarding these perinatal indicators in the two cities.

Examining life-course influences on chronic disease: the importance of birth cohort studies from low- and middle- income countries. An overview

The objectives of this overview are to describe the past and potential contributions of birth cohorts to understanding chronic disease aetiology; advance a justification for the maintenance of birth cohorts from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC); provide an audit of birth cohorts from LMIC; and, finally, offer possible future directions for this sphere of research. While the contribution of birth cohorts from affluent societies to understanding disease aetiology has been considerable, we describe several reasons to anticipate why the results from such studies might not be directly applied to LMIC. More than any other developing country, Brazil has a tradition of establishing, maintaining and exploiting birth cohort studies. The clear need for a broader geographical representation may be precipitated by a greater collaboration worldwide in the sharing of ideas, fieldwork experience, and cross-country cohort data comparisons in order to carry out the best science in the most efficient manner. This requires the involvement of a central overseeing body - such as the World Health Organization - that has the respect of all countries and the capacity to develop strategic plans for `global' life-course epidemiology while addressing such issues as data-sharing. For rapid progress to be made, however, there must be minimal bureaucratic entanglements.

The debt crisis: a re-appraisal

The 1980s' debt crisis is a landmark in developing economies' growth and stabilization. According to the most quoted empirical articles, external shocks and vicissitudes gave rise to crisis just because of delays in stabilization policies, engendered by internal conflicts and institutional immaturity. I review some of these papers, and find out some problems - in the measurement of shocks and foreign indebtedness, namely - whose corrections lead to opposite results: external shocks and foreign indebtedness explain that crisis regardless of domestic policies. At the same time, the strong correlation of income distribution to terms of trade changes and foreign indebtedness suggest that inequality may have contributed differently to that crisis: either through an economic channel, or through a political channel based on delays in reforms.

Posicionamento social e a hipótese da distribuição de renda desconhecida. Brasil: quão pobres, quão ricos e quão desiguais nos percebemos?

Based on the ISSP (1999) survey the aim of the present paper is to provide an empirical description about the perceptions Brazilians have towards their own social positioing in the social scale and towards the country’s income distribution. Throughout this description, the paper gives support for the hypothesis that Brazilians do not recognize the form of the country’s income distribution and its high degree of inequality. Also, we present a brief discussion on the causes and consequences of this knowledge gap.

Rendimentos crescentes e a distribuição internacional de renda

The existence of increasing returns in high technology industries assigns a path dependent character to the international division of labor. Rich countries, first entrants in these industries, enjoy permanent advantages that prevent, in a free market environment, the development of such industries in middle-income countries. This dynamics allows the former group of countries to experience a higher growth rate of labor productivity than the latter, and, as a result, increases the gap between the workers' standard of living in these countries. It is up to the States of middle-income countries the task of devising development strategies capable of breaking such pattern and improving the international distribution of income.

Banking and regional inequality in Brazil: an empirical note

The paper investigates a neglected aspect of regional inequality in Brazil, namely regional inequalities related to financial flows. A synthetic regional financial inequality index is proposed and calculated in a semester basis over the 02-1994/02-2000 period. The inequality measure attempts to capture to what extent deposits in a given state translate into credit operations in that locality. Two main results emerge. First, non-negligible inequality patterns emerge when one considers the segment of private banks and those are consistent with an important proportion of states with a predominantly exporting pattern, for which deposits surpasses loans in that locality. Second, if one focus on the segment of public banks, an opposite pattern appears, that is consistent with decision patterns that might have, in part, a regional development motivation.

O ritmo na queda da desigualdade no Brasil é aceitável?

The rhythm in the fall of inequality in Brazil is acceptable? Evidences of the historical and international context. The following study uses two approaches to answer the question of whether inequality in Brazil is falling fast enough. The first is to compare the variation of the Gini coefficient in Brazil with what was observed in several countries that today belong to the OCDE (United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Norway, and Spain) while these same countries built their social welfare systems during the last century. The second approach is to calculate for how much Brazil must keep up the fall in the Gini coefficient to attain the same levels of inequality of three OCDE countries that can be used as a reference: Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The data indicate that the Gini coefficient in Brazil is falling 0.7 point per year and that this is superior to the rhythm of all the OCDE countries analyzed while they built their welfare systems but Spain, whose Gini fell 0.9 point per year during the 1950s. The time needed to attain various benchmarks in inequality are: 6 years to Mexico, 12 to the United States and 24 to Canadian inequality levels. The general conclusion is that the speed with which inequality is falling is adequate, but the challenge will be to keep inequality falling at the same rate for another two or three decades.

Para medir as desigualdades raciais no mercado de trabalho

Measuring racial inequalities in the labor market. How much racial inequality is there in Brazilian labor market? What has been the impact of the latest transformations in work relations on it? Can we compare the Brazilian situation to other countries? These questions don't have today an objective answer. This is due, mostly, to the absence of measures which could allow us to make long term and regional comparisons of different racial inequalities situations. Our proposal is to provide new indicators to evaluate racial inequalities in both the occupational and income structure in Brazil. Our results show that whites/non-whites gaps widened since the 1980s. They allow us to affirm, in addition, that racial inequalities are today worst in Brazil than in countries that adopted affirmative action laws to fight discrimination.

Integração financeira, poupança externa e convergência de renda: teoria e evidência

The conventional argument favoring capital controls elimination is based on the predictions from the neoclassical model: free international capital mobility would allow capital flows from country where capital is abundant to countries where capital is scarce and the outcome in a global perspective is efficient allocation of savings and income convergence. Within this perspective, financial integration would be particularly beneficial for developing countries resulting in external savings import, temporary increase in per-capita GDP growth rate and a permanent increase in the per-capita GDP level. Using data for a sample of 105 countries from 1980 to 2004 the evidences show that capitals flows from developing to developed countries and that international financial integration and external savings do not increase the conditional convergence rate.

Desigualdade, mas de qual falamos?

What inequality are we talking about? The essay was motivated by the recent disclosure of documents by multilateral development institutions demonstrating that the last phase of economic growth has tended to aggravate socioeconomic inequality. The purpose of the current analyze is to debate the advances that have been made and the persisting methodological and analytical difficulties in the debate on inequality as well as to contribute with a few insights towards the construction of a multidimensional view of a recurring and inherent aspect of capitalist development.

Corruption, income, and rule of law: empirical evidence from developing and developed economies

This article presents an empirical analysis based on cross-country data concerned with two points regarding corruption: (i) its effects on income; and (ii) how to mitigate corruption. The findings can be highlighted in two points. Firstly the idea that corruption is intrinsically connected with income is confirmed. Secondly, the traditional argument that an increase in rule of law represents a good strategy in the fight against corruption is valid for developing countries. Furthermore, this study reveals that the search for increasing the human development index represents a rule of thumb for high levels of income and to control corruption.

A queda da desigualdade de renda corrente e a participação do 1% de domicílios de maior renda, 2000-2010

According to OECD, the recent process of deterioration of the income distribution chain in developing and developed countries has been marked by increased participation of 1% of households with higher income. In the past decade, Brazil has escaped the general trend of deterioration of the income distribution. This paper shows that the reduction of economic inequality was accompanying the reluctance of the participation of top 1%, arguing that the reproduction of the movement more generally requires that this participation has been reduced in the current decade, to enable sustained growth and development with social justice.

Economic stagnation in the United States: underlying causes and global consequences

This paper analyzes the causes of the slow recovery of the US economy since the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008-9. Fallen house values and excessive household debts continue to depress consumer spending, while corporations are failing to invest in spite of record profits. The increasingly unequal distribution of income limits demand, while long-term structural transformations continue to erode employment creation. An expansionary monetary policy has been incapable of sparking a more robust recovery and fiscal policy has been shifted to an austerity stance. In this context, Brazil and other emerging market nations cannot count on the United States to continue to be the leading source of global demand as it was in previous decades.