Provides detailed statistical information which documents the extent and degree of the pervasive poverty and distributive inequality which has marked Latin America since 1970. Argues that poverty and inequality have persisted as the result of a number of long-term historical forces on the one hand (unequal ownership of land and assets, unequal access to different groups of society to educational and other services, and unequal organizational capacity of different societal groups) with a number of more recent, cyclical factors on the other : declining growth in both income and employment, public policies that carry a distinctly regressive bias, or unnecessarily hasty declines in government spending on health, education, and housing.

3/7/00 M2LMGR