Research Insights: Can Governance Factors Explain Persistent Inequality in Latin America?

Governance factors on both the demand side (e.g., low voter trust) and supply side (e.g., vote buying) have limited the extent of redistributive policies in Latin America. Countries with stronger democracies have adopted more redistributive policies, even though post-tax inequality remains high in all the regions democracies. Electoral participation has risen in the more democratic countries, while economically motivated protests have increased in weakly institutionalized settings.