The third ‘Conversations about Conflict and Violence’ this term will be led by Dr Bruno Martorano who will briefly present findings from the paper he co-authored with Professor Patricia Justino on inequality, distributive beliefs and protests in Latin America.
About the Seminar
This seminar presents findings from an analysis of the role of perceptions of inequality and distributive beliefs in motivating people to engage in protests. The paper focuses on the case of Latin America, where an interesting paradox has been observed: despite considerable reductions in inequality, most countries in Latin America have experienced increases in protests and civil unrest in the last decade.
In order to understand this paradox, we analyse the relationship between inequality and protests in recent years in Latin America, using micro-level data on individual participation in protests in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The results show that civil protests are driven by distributive beliefs and not by levels of inequality because individual judgements and reactions are based on one’s own perceptions of inequality that may or may not match absolute levels of inequality. The results also point to the important role of government policy in affecting perceptions of inequality and ensuring social and political stability.
About the Speakers
Dr Bruno Martorano holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Florence. He is currently a Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Development Studies and a Research Associate at Consortium pour la recherche économique et sociale (CRES) in Dakar, Sénégal. Prior to this Bruno has worked at the UNICEF Office of Research in Florence and the University of Florence, and has held consultancies for the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill; UNCTAD; UNU-WIDER and the World Bank.
His research interests lie in the fields of development economics, fiscal policy, taxation, social protection, poverty and inequality. Working on micro as well as macro issues and using different econometric techniques, the ultimate goal of his research is to produce results useful to derive practical and actionable recommendations in terms of policy implications.
Professor Patricia Justino is a development economist specialising in applied microeconomics. Her current research work focuses on the impact of violence and conflict on household welfare and local institutional structures, the microfoundations of violent conflict and the implications of violence for economic development. Professor Patricia Justino convenes the Conflict and Violence research cluster at IDS. She is a development economist specialising in applied microeconomics. Her current research work focuses on the impact of violence and conflict on household welfare and local institutional structures, the microfoundations of violent conflict and the implications of violence for economic development.
Other research interests include the measurement of multidimensional inequality and poverty and their effects on social development and economic growth, the measurement and modelling of poverty (static and dynamic), the role of social security and redistribution on economic growth and household welfare and the impact of economic shocks on household income mobility.
Patricia has led several research projects funded by the British Academy, DFID, the European Commission, the ESRC, FAO, the Leverhulme Trust, UNDP, UNESCO, UN Women and the World Bank. She is the Director of MICROCON and co-founder and co-director of the Households in Conflict Network.
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