Mercosur again...

Today's gonna be political again. Forgetting the landscape for the moment, when travelling in Argentina and Chile one feels like in an average European country. Cafeterias, boutique shops, good restaurants... Maybe it does not look that affluent and the cars on the street are not top brands, but shops have most of the European or global brands - almost the same, only much more expensive, roughly double the Polish prices. I know we hang around tourist areas but still Polish GDP per capita at purchasing power parity of $21,3k is higher as compared to $17,8k of both Chile and Argentina (World Bank 2011).

But there is this feeling that there is much more to what a tourist can see.  Miles and miles of fences, hidden estancias, private property signs, even in national parks keep the intruders away. All this makes you think that distribution of wealth is not that equal in either of the countries... In fact judging by Gini coefficient, out of all OECD countries, Chile is the most income unequal (Argentina is not OECD member). By World Bank estimates income in Chile and Argentina with rates of 44,5% and 52,1% (EU 30,4%, US 40,8%) is very unequally distributed, and only lower from the likes of Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia and South Africa (highest with 63,1%) - all former colonies with rich white populations... And then as taxation is one of the main means of wealth redistribution, Argentina's tax revenues are similar to European rate (37% of GDP) but Chile's is way lower with 19%. So basically judging by simple math it seems like in Chile the rich get it their way by avoiding to pay up and in Argentina much of public money goes to waste. Maybe European economies are not so bad in the end...

Similarly Argentina's and Chile's human development index (HDIs) are high, 0,797 and 0,805 respectively (EU average is 0,867, US is on 0,910). The situation changes dramatically though once the data are inequality adjusted. Suddenly both countries drop significantly to 0,641 and 0,652 which corresponds to median human development (EU decrease to 0,793 and US to 0,771). Not such a good deal in the end.

The struggle continues...