Book Chapter
Cross-country patterns in structural transformation and inequality in developing countries

In this chapter, we discuss the main patterns that can be identified in the trends in earnings inequality and its drivers in the country studies included in this book. We highlight that the large changes in the composition of workers by education and job routine-task intensity that developing countries exhibited in the 2000s and 2010s have, ceteris paribus, contributed to increase inequality. Still, they do not seem to be the main driving force. These are related, to a large extent, to traditional explaining factors of trends in earnings inequality, especially changes in the education premium. In some countries, we found evidence of job polarization or widening of earnings inequality driven by the evolution of routine intensity of jobs. However, their role was smaller than that of education premium. Also, we have highlighted the potential influence of other local factors like labour institutions, such as the minimum wage.