López-Acevedo, Gladys2012-06-212012-06-212006-05https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8664Mexico experienced a pronounced increase in the degree of inequality and earnings inequality over the 1980s and mid 1990s. Contrary to the trend in the distribution of total income inequality, there has been an improvement in the distribution of earnings inequality since 1996. This paper shows the following results. First, education has the highest gross contribution in explaining changes in earnings distribution. Second, both changes in the distribution of education and in the relative earnings among educational groups have always been in phase with the alterations in the earnings distribution. Specifically, when the income profile effect related to education became steeper and the inequality of education increased, the earnings distribution worsened (as in the 1988-96 period). Third, changes in the relative earnings among educational groups are always the leading force behind changes in inequality.CC BY 3.0 IGOAGE GROUPAGE GROUPSALLOCATION EFFECTAVERAGE INCOMEBASIC EDUCATIONCAPITAL GAINSCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPETITIVE PRESSUREDATA SETDECOMPOSABLE INCOME INEQUALITY MEASURESDECOMPOSITION ANALYSISDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDYNAMIC DECOMPOSITIONEARNINGS INEQUALITIESEARNINGS INEQUALITYECONOMETRICSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC SECTORECONOMIC SECTORSECONOMIC STAGNATIONECONOMIC STUDIESEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTIONEDUCATIONAL LEVELEDUCATIONAL LEVELSEMPIRICAL RESEARCHEXPLAINING INEQUALITYEXPLANATORY POWERFINANCIAL SECTORFIRM LEVELFREE TRADEGDPGDP PER CAPITAGINI COEFFICIENTGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITAHOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICSHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHUMAN RESOURCESILLITERACYINCOMEINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME EFFECTINCOME GROSSINCOME GROUPSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELINCOME PROFILEINCOME SHAREINCOMESINCREASING RETURNSINEQUALITYINEQUALITY CHANGESINEQUALITY INDEXINEQUALITY MEASURESJOB STATUSJOBSLABOR FORCELABOR INCOMELABOR MARKETLABOR SUPPLYLATIN AMERICANMACROECONOMIC POLICIESMANUFACTURING INDUSTRYMARGINAL VALUEMEAN INCOMEMINIMUM WAGEOCCUPATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOPULATION SHAREPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRIMARY SCHOOLQUANTILE REGRESSIONSREAL GDPREAL WAGEREAL WAGE DECLINESREAL WAGESREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGRESSION TECHNIQUESRELATIVE DEMANDRELATIVE EARNINGSRELATIVE INCOMESRISING INEQUALITYSEASONAL WORKERSSKILLED LABORSKILLED WORKERSSTATE-OWNED ENTERPRISESSTRUCTURAL CHANGETERTIARY EDUCATIONTRADE BARRIERSUNSKILLED WORKERSURBAN EMPLOYMENTURBAN EMPLOYMENT SURVEYWAGE DIFFERENTIALSWAGE DISPERSIONWAGE DISTRIBUTIONWAGE GAPWAGE INEQUALITYWAGE LEVELWAGE PREMIUMSWELL-BEINGWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3919