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Race, Ethnicity, Immigration, and Living Conditions in C osta R ica
Author(s) -
Gradín Carlos
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/roiw.12176
Subject(s) - ethnic group , immigration , race (biology) , counterfactual thinking , census , indigenous , demographic economics , inequality , demography , differential (mechanical device) , distribution (mathematics) , population , geography , sociology , economics , psychology , social psychology , biology , gender studies , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , aerospace engineering , anthropology , engineering
Using information from the 2011 census, we analyze the differential in living standards by race, ethnicity, and country of birth in C osta R ica. We identify the main factors explaining such inequalities along the distribution of a composite index of wellbeing, with counterfactual analysis based on the B linder– O axaca type of decomposition. Our results show that mulattoes, indigenous people, and immigrants from N icaragua and P anama are generally worse off than the majority of the population, although the reasons differ. While lower education levels and lower paying occupations explain much of the differential in all cases, location is particularly important for indigenous people and immigrants from P anama who live in the least developed areas of the country. We also investigate the distributive pattern of these inequalities and the remarkably distinctive situation of C osta R ican blacks.