Poverty and Inequality in BRICS Countries

This article uses a broad sample of statistical material to show that poverty and inequality have different natures in different BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Using various methods to conceptualize the phenomenon of poverty, the authors are able to classify several types of poverty: preindustrial poverty in modern societies (India, South Africa), early industrial poverty of the lumpen urban poor (Brazil), industrial poverty (China, Russia), and late industrial poverty (Russia). They then draw a conclusion about the overriding heterogeneity of Russian poverty, which includes elements of all these models, but tends toward industrial poverty. They also indicate that the Russian inequality model does not dovetail with any of the inequality models described in this article. Finally, they note the particular relevance of investment, employment, migration, and tax policies to combating poverty “in a way appropriate to the Russian context.”