Could the Kuznets curve that is seen in the data be a mere statistical fluke resulting from the fact that for extraneous historical reasons, most Latin American countries just happened to have both a middle level of income and a high level
of inequality? And could a combination of both cross-sectional and longitudinal (time-series) data help resolve the question? Gary Fields and George Jakubson examined this question. Figure 5.11 on page 228, plots a combination of data
from the 35 countries in Fields and Jakubson’s data set, where reliable estimates of the Gini coefficient have been available for various developing countries at different points in time. The inverted-U relationship, tracing the triangles, is a
computer-generated parabola that best fits the data under standard statistical criteria. Observations on Latin American countries are circled: All of the