Long famous for its unequal distribution of wealth, Brazil has shrunk its income gap by six percentage points since 2001, more than any other country in South America this decade, said Francisco Ferreira, a lead economist at the World Bank.

While the top 10 percent of Brazil's earners saw their cumulative income rise by 7 percent from 2001 to 2006, the bottom 10 percent shot up by 58 percent, according to Marcelo Côrtes Neri, the director of the Center for Social Policies at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

But Brazil is also outspending most of its neighbors on social programs, and overall public spending continues to be nearly four times as high as what Mexico spends as a percentage of its gross national product, Mr. Ferreira said.

I would really like to see comparative figures on this.  This has got to be one of the most successful stories of income equalization achieved through economic growth in recent years. Gini numbers are notoriously  difficult to compare as many countries have no records (or they are limited to urban areas, etc) for income distribution before the 1980s.

Even in European countries, there's very little hard data on income distribution before the Second World War.  And this arguably has a very important impact on politics in a country.  And if South America can move towards a more equal distribution of income then the continent is again (arguably) more likely to remain a democracy even if faced with major economic and political shocks.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg