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Lower and Upper Bounds of Inequality of Opportunity in Emerging Economies

Author

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  • Paul Hufe
  • Andreas Peichl
  • Daniel Weishaar

Abstract

Equality of opportunity is an important normative ideal that concerns politicians and the larger public alike. In spite of its wide acceptance, current estimation approaches in the literature suffer from severe data restrictions that lead to biased estimates of inequality of opportunity. These shortcomings are particularly pronounced for emerging economies in which comprehensive household survey data often is unavailable. In this paper, we address these issues by estimating lower and upper bounds of inequality of opportunity for a set of emerging economies. Thereby, we address recent critiques that worry about the prevalence of lower bound estimates and the ensuing scope for downplaying the normative significance of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Hufe & Andreas Peichl & Daniel Weishaar, 2019. "Lower and Upper Bounds of Inequality of Opportunity in Emerging Economies," ifo Working Paper Series 301, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifowps:_301
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Paul Hufe & Andreas Peichl & John Roemer & Martin Ungerer, 2017. "Inequality of income acquisition: the role of childhood circumstances," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 49(3), pages 499-544, December.
    6. Andreas Peichl & Martin Ungerer, 2016. "Accounting for the spouse when measuring inequality of opportunity," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(3), pages 607-631, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rafael Carranza, 2023. "Upper and Lower Bound Estimates of Inequality of Opportunity: A Cross‐National Comparison for Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(4), pages 838-860, December.
    2. Vincenzo Carrieri & Apostolos Davillas & Andrew M. Jones, 2020. "A latent class approach to inequity in health using biomarker data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(7), pages 808-826, July.
    3. Dai, Xinchen & Li, Jing, 2021. "Inequality of opportunity in China: Evidence from pseudo panel data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equality of opportunity; inequality; emerging economies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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