As a result of this work, the dominating influence of the “Latin America effect” has been strongly supported. In fact, for many countries, there is no particular tendency for inequality to change in the process of economic development.
Inequality seems to be a rather stable part of a country’s socioeconomicmakeup, altered significantly only as a result of a sub stantial upheaval or systematic policies. East Asia achieved its relatively low inequality largely from exogenous forces: the U.S. occupation of Japan, the Nationalist takeover of Taiwan, and the expulsion of the Japanese from South Korea. In all three cases, land reform that had far-reaching effects on inequality was implemented (we examine land reform in Chapter 9). But inequality can be gradually reduced through well-implemented policies to promote pro-poor growth
over time.