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This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the recent evolution (1993–2007) of Brazilian income inequality. Particularly, we assess the contribution of different income sources to inequality, using three different decomposition techniques: Shorrocks (1982), Lerman and Yitzhaki (1985), and Gini decomposition. We exploit a recent dataset (PNAD, 2004) that allows the identification of different governmental transfer programs (Bolsa-Família, PETI, and BPC) and their impacts into inequality. While informal labor income and self-employment income reduces inequality in almost every measure, the opposite is true for public sector wages. Private formal labor income is becoming less important in explaining Brazilian inequality over time, but its behavior is still important, as it represents more than 40% of the total income. We find that social transfer programs have a limited, but positive impact on equality. On the other hand, dynamics of pensions attenuate the recent path of decreasing inequality in Brazil.

Volume 18 of Research on Economic Inequality contains selected papers from the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality's Third Annual Meeting (July, 2009) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The volume collects eleven papers, five of which focus on inequality and poverty in Latin America. The Latin American papers address basic needs and poverty, multidimensional poverty, educational mobility, poverty dynamics, and the role of cash transfer programs in addressing inequality. The second half of Volume 18 collects other papers by ECINEQ members. The topics covered include taxation and inequality, evaluating poverty orderings, testing for mobility dominance, measuring relative deprivation, estimation of the costs of maintaining a child, and evaluating nutritional inequality.

This research makes a fresh contribution by exploring an understudied aspect of the Tropicália movement: visual performance. After offering a historical overview, we examine the movement’s communicative legacy. We contend that, in addition to song’s lyrics and musical symbols, it is vital to consider a third dimension: visual performance.

The addition of the visual allows for a more fundamental understanding of the many complex meanings that the Tropicalistas constructed in their resistance to political oppression, as well as broader cultural mores and expectations.

Our examination of archival performance videos reveals that Tropicalistas employed modes of dress and a specific, intentional orientation toward their listeners as particularly powerful tools of expression. Revealing these two dimensions of Tropicália performance allows us to better understand the importance of performance as a key element of resistance. The Tropicália movement’s performative reconfigurations of self and other became a vital channel through which the Tropicalistas manage to speak truth to power to challenge the oppressive military regime and question assumptions about Brazilian national identity.

Exploring the role of performance as part of the overall meaning of musical expression opens up new vistas of understanding. While relevant to Tropicália as a pivotal and wholly Brazilian artistic movement, the contributions of this study have implications beyond this particular setting. The analytical approach reveals how artistic movements can serve as both the substance and the expression of national being.

Originally conceptualised as an innovative strategy for environmental conservation, ecotourism is now considered as one of the fastest growing segments of tourism. Although many definitions of ecotourism have been provided over the years, the application of the concept is still inconsistent, shifting its focus from purely nature-based towards more sustainable and conservative activities. Research on ecotourism reveals that ecotourism marketing initiatives are mainly driven by the supply-side or government/environmentalist organisations’ perspective, without taking into account the demand side, i.e., individuals’ motivations for ecotourism. This chapter will provide recognition of the different definitions of the ecotourism concept in order to distinguish it from other similar forms of tourism, e.g., nature-based tourism, and will review the research to build an understanding of the various motivations pushing individuals to choose ecotourism offerings. It will also function as the basis for the development of an appropriate protocol to investigate a sample of ecotourism providers and the congruency of their marketing initiatives with established consumer motivations.