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The article illustrates the degree of wealth in various Latin American economies and the process of wealth concentration towards billionaires (super-rich) and the highest economic strata to the detriment of the affluent, the upper-middle classes, and the middle classes -with the exception of Chile, Peru, and several other economies. Although Latin America has a high concentration of wealth, its Gini coefficient is lower than that of other regions of the world. A clear upward trend in the concentration of wealth in the region and the world can be seen throughout the period analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the explaining factors of the presence of the middle income trap (and slow economic growth trap). It also incorporates the criteria to measure whether any economy falls within those categories. Additionally, it evaluate a sample of 18 Latin American economies and the regional average between 1870 and 2014 under different methodologies for incorporated these in the tipology. It is concluded that most of the economies of the region and the whole are in the middle income trap or slow economic growth conditions and that the probability of reaching the status of high-income economy would be very reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]