How women and men contribute to income inequality in Brazil

Abstract This paper analyzes how the earnings of women and men affect the per capita household income (PCHI) distribution in Brazil, highlighting the individual earnings of the wife and husband of the couples, which include the household´s reference person. For this it is relevant to analyze what happens with the correlation between the husband´s and wife´s schooling, since level of schooling is a basic determinant of their earnings. Income from pensions is also analyzed, distinguishing income received by the husband, the wife, other men and other women. Data from a National Annual Household Survey for the period 1992-2015 are used. The correlation between the husband´s and wife´s schooling in 2015 is lower than in 1995. Decomposing the reduction of the Gini index from 1995 to 2015 (ΔG = -0,086), it is verified that the four components related to earnings and the four components formed by pensions contributed to the reduction in inequality.