{"id":3089,"date":"2017-06-08T06:14:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T14:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=3089&lang=en"},"modified":"2017-06-08T06:16:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T14:16:14","slug":"icefi-cutting-the-cake-of-inequality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized\/icefi-cutting-the-cake-of-inequality\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Icefi: Cutting the cake of inequality"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Juan Jos\u00e9 Urbina<\/a>, Senior Economist, Icefi<\/a> (Central American Institute of\u00a0Fiscal Studies)<\/h4>\n

A 10-layer cake, each layer smaller than the last, symbolizes the wealth of the nation, reminding us of its inequitable distribution. It\u2019s a metaphor used often to explain income inequality, that was brought to life during a recent event put on by the joint initiative \u201cPara\u00edso Desigual,\u201d Unequal Paradise<\/a>, of Oxfam International and Icefi. Below I share my experience with this exercise\/dessert\/reflection.<\/p>\n

Once the conferences and discussion wrapped up, we the attendees were asked to open the envelopes we had received at the beginning of the day. Each envelope contained a colored paper that gave us our place on the \u201cincome scale\u201d and at a table with others of our social standing. The ten layers of cake \u2013 each destined for a different table – represented the share of income of each decile of the Guatemalan population. As the good space cadet that I am, I\u2019d lost my envelope \u2013 if, that is, I was ever given this alleged envelope \u2013 and so I began without fanfare to serve slices of cake without enjoying any myself.<\/p>\n

Soon, though – I don\u2019t know whether it was to portray social mobility or simply because people at the table with the cake didn\u2019t want to get cake on their hands \u2013 I was invited to the cake table and ended up serving it up. The four large bottom rounds of cake remained at the table, heaped on top of each other, for just eight people plus two interlopers (me being one).<\/p>\n

I began to serve the cake in enormous pieces proportional to its abundance. While some accepted their obscene portions without complaint, a couple of more cautious cake-eaters asked for half, enjoying their privilege to do so. To make room on the table, after the first cake round was finished, we passed its meagre leftovers to the table of those who represented the decile with the least income \u2013 any relation to real life is no coincidence.<\/p>\n

Another table suffering a cake shortage arrived to ask for cake and got a share. That is, after negotiations concluded that this would be a one-time contribution and they wouldn\u2019t ask for more. Does that sound like a certain kind of tax? Meanwhile, one of the coordinators of the event arrived and took a whole round. As my job was to serve and not to regulate, I never found out if it was distributed or hidden in some tax haven for haven regulars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
An eleventh cake, this time chocolate, bathed in ostentation, represented the multimillionaires that aren\u2019t even reflected in the national data.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the end, nobody wanted more cake but there were still one and a half rounds left, plus a piece with a bite taken out of it that no one owned up to. There were leftovers despite the warning of the organizers that there wouldn\u2019t be enough, a miracle attributed in part to the other commitments that obligated many to leave the event – perhaps metaphorical migration?<\/p>\n

An eleventh chocolate cake, bathed in ostentation, represented the multimillionaires that aren\u2019t even reflected in the national data. According to what I was told, since this phenomenon goes unseen, it was enjoyed by a single person, despite the fact that it was physically impossible to eat all that wealth alone.<\/p>\n

So what was I left with after all that sugar, metaphor, and reflection over a cake served so unequally? Apart from a glucose spike, the conviction that we should look for ways to put the brakes on the mechanisms that generate income inequality, as well as the other manifestations of inequality that limit human development. To do this, the only path forward is to create an agenda that includes the convinced, but that also creates awareness in those who are not convinced. Despite the clich\u00e9, it remains a question not of the size of the cake, but of how it\u2019s divided.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A 10-layer cake, each layer smaller than the last, symbolizes the wealth of the nation, reminding us of its inequitable distribution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Juan Jos\u00e9 Urbina, Senior Economist, Icefi (Central American Institute of\u00a0Fiscal Studies) A 10-layer cake, each layer smaller than the last, symbolizes the wealth of the nation, reminding us of its inequitable distribution. It\u2019s a metaphor used often to explain income inequality, that was brought to life during a recent event put on by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[426,410,453,1],"tags":[805,782,779,560,65,762,773,820,818,819,821],"class_list":["post-3089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corruption","category-economy","category-frontpage-en","category-uncategorized","tag-economic-policy","tag-economics","tag-fiscal-policy","tag-guatemala-en","tag-guatemala","tag-icefi","tag-impuestos","tag-income-inequality","tag-inequality","tag-taxes","tag-wealth-inequality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pastel-por-deciles.jpeg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-NP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3331,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/politics\/icefi-study-shows-discrimination-in-government-spending-on-maya-communities\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":0},"title":"Icefi study shows discrimination in government spending on Maya communities","author":"EntreMundos","date":"25 agosto, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Commentary from the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi) The Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi) presented its study \u201cAtlas of public investment in indigenous communities\u201d in Guatemala City in July. The study\u2019s alarming findings show deficient public spending on indigenous communities. Approximately half of Guatemala\u2019s population, around\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abPageTwo\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"PageTwo","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/pagetwo-en\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3071,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized\/icefi-social-justice-is-not-a-commodity\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":1},"title":"Icefi: Social justice is not a commodity","author":"EntreMundos","date":"7 junio, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Carlos Alfredo Gossmann Zaraz\u00faa, Research Assistant, and Jonathan Menkos Zeissig, Executive Director, Icefi (Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies) Globalization is thought of as an engine for the liberation of people all over the world through access to knowledge, cultures, technologies, territories, resources, and better forms of production. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abEconomy\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/economy\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/img_1907.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/img_1907.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/img_1907.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/img_1907.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/img_1907.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1878,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/economy\/corruption-and-transparency-icefis-plan\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":2},"title":"Corruption and Transparency: ICEFI’s plan","author":"EntreMundos","date":"10 noviembre, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Commentary by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI). September, 2015 Corruption in Guatemala limits what the government can do to resolve urgent social problems due to its consequences: it causes public institutions and authorities to lose credibility on a national level as much as the municipal or\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abCorruption\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/politics\/corruption\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/img_1695.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/img_1695.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/img_1695.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/img_1695.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/img_1695.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3346,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/economy\/impunity-tax-privileges-and-weak-institutions-threaten-fiscal-policy-in-central-americas-northern-triangle\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":3},"title":"Impunity, tax privileges, and weak institutions threaten fiscal policy in Central America\u2019s Northern Triangle","author":"EntreMundos","date":"25 agosto, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Commentary by Icefi - August, 2017 The Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi) is concerned about recent actions taken by the governments and federal courts of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Icefi finds that these actions undermine legitimate efforts to fight corruption, rehabilitate public finance, and create just, appropriate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abEconomy\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/economy\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi-ejecutivos-triangulo-norte.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi-ejecutivos-triangulo-norte.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi-ejecutivos-triangulo-norte.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi-ejecutivos-triangulo-norte.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/icefi-ejecutivos-triangulo-norte.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1975,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/politics\/the-platform-of-president-elect-morales-an-empty-aspiration\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":4},"title":"The platform of President-Elect Morales: An empty aspiration","author":"EntreMundos","date":"11 noviembre, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Richard Brown - EM editor - November 2015 Entertainer Jimmy Morales of the conservative National Convergence Party (FNC) won the presidency in a relatively peaceful election with 67.44% of the vote in the head-to-head second round against Sandra Torres of the left-leaning party National Unity of Hope (UNE). Morales received\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abPolitics\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/politics\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/jimmycolorweb1.jpg?fit=1168%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/jimmycolorweb1.jpg?fit=1168%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/jimmycolorweb1.jpg?fit=1168%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/jimmycolorweb1.jpg?fit=1168%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/jimmycolorweb1.jpg?fit=1168%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3052,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized\/the-swedish-economy-a-model-for-competitiveness-growth-and-social-well-being\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":3089,"position":5},"title":"The Swedish Economy: A model for competitiveness, growth, and social well-being","author":"EntreMundos","date":"2 junio, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 By Jonathan Menkos Zeissig, Executive Director, Central American Institute of\u00a0Fiscal Studies (Icefi) Sweden's example can help politicians, business leaders, workers, and the public of Central America understand that it is possible to build a competitive society without sacrificing people\u2019s well-being. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Swedish finance minister\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abEconomy\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/economy\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sweden.jpg?fit=1200%2C817&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sweden.jpg?fit=1200%2C817&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sweden.jpg?fit=1200%2C817&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sweden.jpg?fit=1200%2C817&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sweden.jpg?fit=1200%2C817&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3091,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/3091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}