This past Wednesday evening, I listened to a talk by Professor Andre Simores from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. We started out learning about the geography of Brazil. I never realized how large and expansive the country is. We also discussed recent political events, important cities, and the olympics.

One of the main topics of discussion was the high inequality levels. This is to say that there is an unequal distribution of wealth within the country. I am currently in a class in which we systematically try to understand the causes of inequality, how to measure it, and concrete policy approaches that can remedy the conditions resulting from a high level of inequality. One thing that we learned is that political instability and corruption can stunt a country’s potential for economic growth. This is because an inability to have faith in institutions means that investors will not take risks and the country will not be able to progress into the process of industrialization.

Another important factor in economic growth is access to education. We learned from Professor Simores that it is often the wealthy who have access to advanced public universities. Since they are able to attend the best private schools, these individuals are able to attend the best public universities after graduation. As a result of the barriers to access into higher education, many stay in the cycle of poverty.

I realized by taking my course, and while listening to this talk that inequality is a highly complex topic to attempt to attack. There is no one prescription for attempting to resolve the issues that arise. It is important to understand that there are hundreds of different ways to solve complex problems like these and no one policy can solve all the issues attached to economic inequality.