📊 Bimbo, Fighting Corruption, and Hispanic Wealth Growth
Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.
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Today's charts:
How does Hispanic/Latino’s wealth growth compare to other demographics in the US? 💵
Bimbo’s North American presence is being felt 🍞
A look at LatAm countries’ fight against corruption in the past 3 years ⚖️
Make sure you check out the comment of the week at the bottom!
Wealth 💵
The global financial crisis of the late 2000s destroyed livelihoods all around the world. From the US to Latin America to Europe and Asia, families tightened their belts and tried to adjust as many lost homes, businesses, and jobs.
The Hispanic and Latino population of the US was no exception, on average losing roughly 40% of its wealth between 2007 and 2013. This was a bigger drop than all but one other racial/ethnic group in the US—though of course there's plenty of overlap between black and Hispanic populations, particularly seen through the Afro-Latino (and some Caribbean) communities.
The hefty drop during this period is what makes the results following the crisis so impressive. Between 2013 and 2019, Hispanics represent the group with the largest growth in median wealth in the US, ahead of even relatively privileged socioeconomic groups such as white Americans. Even considering the roughly 40% drop to overcome to be level with 2007 figures, this still reflects a doubling of wealth in roughly a decade, meaning more money in the pockets of hardworking local and immigrant families.
While there remain a number of challenges to overcome in terms of growing wealth and ensuring long-term prosperity for families, particularly following the devastation of the pandemic, we're thrilled to see Hispanic-Americans succeeding after a crisis such as the one following 2007.
After all, people lost homes, cars, and jobs in the crisis, just as they later did when COVID-19 shut down the world. By growing both public social safety nets and protecting people's wealth, future crises can be less devastating for the most vulnerable among us.
Business 🍞
The average US citizen has never heard of Grupo Bimbo. And yet, it's the largest bakery in the country through its operation of big bread brands like Sarah Lee, Thomas, and Oroweat; it commanded nearly a third of the overall market last year.
Baking tells only one part of the company's story, especially recently: In the past decade, an addictively delicious snack called Takis Fuego has taken spice lovers in the US by storm. Sales of the now iconic purple bag have skyrocketed and positioned Bimbo's subsidiary, Barcel, which invented the fiery taco-shaped chip, into 3rd place in chip sales nationwide.
We were a little disappointed that the word "Takis" only appears once in Bimbo's yearly report, in its Recognitions section:
"Best New Product Award - Takis Dragon Sweet Chili"
You can count on us to try out Takis Dragon Sweet Chili shortly. The US Takis mania manifests itself in many forms. A quick search on walmart.com reveals a Takis universe of flavors and products, from popcorn to neon-blue colored chips and even meat sticks. Another on tiktok.com shows a universe of teenagers that, through intense and daring challenges, seem determined to test the limits of their taste buds and digestive systems.
The 76-year-old company began with the mission of baking "truly good, nutritious, tasty, and fresh bread" in Mexico City. The bread immediately became a hit and its demand spread nationwide.
Over the next few decades, Bimbo expanded its product line to bread-based treats through Marinela and potato/tortilla chips through Barcel, two of its most noteworthy brands today. The company officially became a multinational corporation 40 years after its inception, in 1984, by exporting to the US. That was just the beginning of a massive expansion across the globe. In the 90s, Grupo Bimbo acquired a series of companies that enabled it to enter markets like Chile, Brazil, and China.
Corruption ⚖️
When we last wrote about corruption in Latin America a few months ago, we talked about the perception: how everyday citizens feel the country they're living in rewards or punishes corruption.
Today, we're going to talk about the tools fighting this insidious problem. And to do so, we're going to be taking a look at a helpful index produced by our friends over at Control Risks and the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, the Capacity to Combat Corruption Index.
Rather than measuring corruption perception, the CCC index seeks to measure out the capabilities of various countries to fight corruption through 14 variables such as judicial independence and the strength of civil society.
The 2023 numbers are in—and for many countries, they're quite grim. Over the past few years, most of the region's largest countries—including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, & Mexico—have seen drops in their capacity to combat corruption.
Even regional leaders on this metric, such as Chile, Costa Rica, & Uruguay, have fallen in the years since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Guatemala, which is currently seeing a contentious election characterized by elite corruption and democratic backsliding, has seen the largest drop since 2020.
But it's not all bad. Both Ecuador and Paraguay have grown their score in this year’s index, going against a general trend within their South American neighbors that is far from promising. Meanwhile, certain Central American and Caribbean countries have seen boosts to their index score, with both Panama and the Dominican Republic faring better than most of their peers. The latter in particular saw the largest jump in score in the whole region, showing a great rise in capabilities.
Corruption is a persistent problem, one that can only be fought through teamwork involving journalism, institutions, and civil society. We can only hope to see more Latin American countries joining the DR in boosting their performance for the next edition of the index!
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That’s all for this week 👋
Want more?
Our comment of the week claims that Chile was the first country in the world to design a visa program specially for startups. True? From our chart about Chile’s entrepreneurial spirit on LinkedIn.
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great coverage, thank you!