Using a factor decomposition of the Gini coefficient, we measure the contribution to inequality of direct monetary income flows to and from the Brazilian State. The income flows from the State include public sector workers' earnings, Social Security pensions, unemployment benefits, and Social Assistance transfers. The income flows to the State comprise direct taxes and employees' social security contributions. Data come from the Brazilian POF 2008–09. We do not measure indirect contributions to inequality of subsidies granted to and taxation of companies, nor the in-kind provision of goods and services. The results indicate that the State contributes to a large share of family per capita income inequality. Incomes associated with work in the public sector—wages and pensions—are concentrated and regressive. Components related to the private sector are also concentrated, but progressive. Contrary to what has been found in European countries, public spending associated with work and social policies is concentrated in an elite group of workers and, taken as a whole, tends to increase income inequality. Redistributive mechanisms that could reverse this inequality, such as taxes and social assistance, are very progressive but proportionally small. Consequently, their effect is completely offset by the regressive income flows from the State.

O estudo examina um conjunto particular de determinantes institucionais da desigualdade, as políticas previdenciárias. Para isso, avalia a hipótese de que a diferenciação de regras quanto ao limite máximo para o valor dos benefícios nos Regimes Próprios de Previdência dos trabalhadores do setor público e o Regime Geral do setor privado responde por uma parte significativa da regressividade da previdência como um todo e contribui desproporcionalmente para a desigualdade no Brasil. A metodologia usada decompõe os fatores do coeficiente de Gini da distribuição de rendimentos familiares per capita observada na POF 2008/09. Conclui que o Estado reproduz desigualdades preexistentes por meio de direitos previdenciários diferenciados para trabalhadores dos setores público e privado. A diferenciação de regras faz com que a previdência de valores mais altos, recebida por menos de 1% da população, contribua com 4% da desigualdade total.

The study examines a particular set of institutional determinants of inequality, the public pensions. It tests the hypothesis that different rules regarding a maximum limit for the value of benefits in the pension subsystem of public and private sector workers make the system as a whole regressive and contribute disproportionately to inequality in Brazil. Using a factor decomposition of the Gini coefficient of the distribution of family per capita income, as measured by POF 2008/09 it concludes that the State reproduces pre-existing inequalities when it differentiates rules for public and private sector workers. Due to this differentiation of rules, the higher value of pensions of less than 1% of the population contributes to 4% of total inequality.

O estudo estima a contribuição específica do diferencial salarial entre trabalhadores com características semelhantes dos setores público e privado para a desigualdade na renda domiciliar per capita no Brasil. A estimação baseia-se em simulações contrafactuais e o cálculo das contribuições para a desigualdade em uma decomposição de fatores do coeficiente de Gini. Os dados são provenientes da PNAD 2009. O diferencial equivale a cerca de 17% da massa salarial dos servidores públicos, é regressivo e altamente concentrado, mas tem volume pequeno na renda total (1%) e, por isso, contribui para cerca de 3% da desigualdade total. Os efeitos sobre a desigualdade da composição da força de trabalho nos setores são muito maiores que efeitos da segmentação do mercado de trabalho entre os dois setores. Essas conclusões são pouco sensíveis a modificações de definições de setor e diferentes técnicas de estimação.

We estimate the contribution of the wage differential between workers with the same attributes in the public and private sectors to the household per capita income inequality in Brazil. The estimate is based on counterfactual simulations and the contribution to inequality on a factor decomposition of the Gini coefficient. Data comes from the Brazilian National Household Survey PNAD 2009. The differential corresponds approximately to 17% of the wage bill of workers in the public sector, is regressive and highly concentrated. However, because it amounts to a small share of the total income (1%) its contribution to the total inequality is of 3%. The sector composition effects on inequality are times higher than the segmentation (price) effects. These conclusions are robust to changes in the definition of the sectors and to different estimation techniques.