Poverty and inequality in the rural Brazilian Amazon: a multidimensional approach
Open accessAbstract
This paper analyses poverty and inequality dynamics among smallholders along the Transamazon High-way. We measure changes in poverty and inequality for original settlers and new owners, contrasting income-based with multidimensional indices of well-being. Our results show an overall reduction in both poverty and inequality among smallholders, although poverty decline was more pronounced among new owners, while inequality reduction was larger among original settlers. This trend suggests that families have an initial improvement in livelihood and well-being which tends to reach a limit later-a sign of structural limitations common to rural areas and maybe a replication of boom and bust trends in local economies among Amazonian municipalities. In addition, our multidimensional estimates of well-being reveal that some economically viable land use strategies of smallholders (e.g., pasture) may have important ecological implications for the regional landscape. These findings highlight the public policy challenges for fostering sustainable development among rural populations.
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A number of longitudinal case studies of Amazonian communities provide evidence not of boom-bust cycles, but instead of stable or continuing welfare improvements over time.
“a number of case studies (for example Sears et al. 2007, Piñedo-Vasquez et al. 2001, Guedes et al. 2012, Hall and Caviglia-Harris 2013, Mangabeira 2010) that have examined the dynamic trajectories of different Amazonian communities for between 7 to 22 years provide evidence not of boom-bust cycles, but instead either stable or continuing welfare improvements over time.”
From Boom-bust patterns in the Brazilian Amazon (2015) · cites this paper as Guedes et al. 2012
The Data and Methods section describes a longitudinal comparison of households surveyed in 1997/1998 and 2005, and the Discussion and Final Remarks reports declining poverty and inequality during that period. But the paper does not establish a stable or continuing improvement trajectory: it says gains may reach a limit and may replicate boom-and-bust trends. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cites
Income Poverty and Material Hardship: How Strong Is the Association?
Iceland, J., & Bauman, K. J. (2007) · The Journal of Socio-Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.003 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
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Boom-bust patterns in the Brazilian Amazon
Weinhold, D., Reis, E. J., & Vale, P. M. (2015) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.09.013 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Guedes, G. R., Brondízio, E. S., Barbieri, A. F., Anne, R., Penna-Firme, R., & D’Antona, Á. O.
- Affiliations
- Brown University (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Guedes, Gilvan R.
- Venue
- Human Ecology
- Published
- 2011-12-22
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 41-57
- ISSN
- 0300-7839 (ISSN-L)
- 1572-9915
- PMC
- PMC3426830
- OpenAlex
- W2151501773
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 10.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Human Ecology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD035811)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Rural Development and Agriculture
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Keywords
- poverty, income inequality, smallholder farmers, rural Amazon, Transamazon Highway, multidimensional well-being, land tenure, land use change, pasture expansion, boom and bust, sustainable rural development, public policy
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