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Inequality of outcomes and inequality of opportunities in Brazil

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Author Info
François Bourguignon (World Bank)
Francisco H. G. Ferreira () (World Bank and Department of Economics PUC-Rio)
Marta Menendez (DELTA)

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Abstract

This paper departs from John Roemer's formulation of the theory of equality of opportunities. It seeks to determine what part of observed outcome inequality may be attributed to differences in observed 'circumstances', including family background, and what part is due to 'personal efforts'. We use a micro-econometric technique to simulate what the distribution of outcomes would look like if 'circumstances' were the same for everybody. This technique is applied to Brazilian data from the 1996 household survey, both on the distribution of earnings for active individuals and on the distribution of household income per capita. It is shown that observed circumstances are a major source of outcome inequality in Brazil, probably more so than in other countries for which information is available. Yet, the level of inequality after equalizing circumstances remains very high. While a policy aimed at equalizing opportunities - through facilitating more equal access to schooling, for instance - might therefore be successful in lowering Brazilian inequality somewhat, more ambitious targets for inequality reduction may require more direct income redistribution.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil) in its series Textos para discussão with number 478.

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Length: 44 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2003
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Handle: RePEc:rio:texdis:478

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Keywords: Inequality of Opportunities; Intergenerational Educational Mobility JEL Codes: D31; D63; J62;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Jere Behrman R. & Alejandro Gavieria Uribe & Miguel Szekely Sánchez, 2001. "Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America," WORKING PAPERS SERIES. DOCUMENTOS DE TRABAJO 002914, FEDESARROLLO. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Piketty, Thomas, 1995. "Social Mobility and Redistributive Politics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 551-84, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Peter Lanjouw & Marcelo Côrtes Neri, 2003. "A Robust Poverty Profile for Brazil Using Multiple Data Sources," Revista Brasileira de Economia, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), vol. 57(1), April. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Valéria Pero, 2001. "Et, à Rio, plus ça reste le même... Tendências da mobilidade social intergeracional no Rio de Janeiro," Anais do XXIX Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 29th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 096, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Arnaud Lefranc & Nicolas Pistolesi & Alain Trannoy, 2006. "Equality of Opportunity: Definitions and Testable Conditions with an Application to Income in France," IDEP Working Papers 0609, Institut d'economie publique (IDEP), Marseille, France, revised 27 Sep 2006. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Megan Louw & Servaas van der Berg & Derek Yu, 2006. "Educational attainment and intergenerational social mobility in South Africa," Working Papers 09/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Daniel Mejía & Marc St-Pierre, . "Unequal Opportunities and Human Capital Formation," Borradores de Economia 415, Banco de la Republica de Colombia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Reynaldo Fernandes & Amaury Patrick Gremaud & Gabriel Ulyssea, 2004. "Sistema Brasileiro De Financiamento À Educação Básica: Principais Características, Limitações E Alternativas," Anais do XXXII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 32th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 132, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
  5. Laura Serlenga & Vito Peragine, 2007. "Higher education and equality of opportunity in Italy," Working Papers 79, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Elbers, Chris & Lanjouw, Peter & Mistiaen, Johan A. & Ozler, Berk, 2005. "Re-interpreting sub-group inequality decompositions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3687, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Laure Pasquier-Doumer, 2005. "Perception de l’inégalité des chances et mobilités objective et subjective:une analyse à partir d’entretiens qualitatifs auprès de Liméniens," Working Papers DT/2005/17, DIAL (Développement, Institutions & Analyses de Long terme). [Downloadable!]
  9. Arnaud Lefranc & Nicolas Pistolesi & Alain Trannoy, 2006. "Inequality of opportunities vs. inequality of outcomes: Are Western societies all alike?," Working Papers 54, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Fabio D. Waltenberg & Vincent Vandenberghe, 2006. "What Does It Take To Achieve Equality Of Opportunity In Education? An Empirical Investigation Based On Brazilian Data," Anais do XXXIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 34th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 89, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. François Bourguignon & Francisco Ferreira & Michael Walton, 2007. "Equity, efficiency and inequality traps: A research agenda," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 235-256, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Béatrice D'HOMBRES & Jean-Louis ARCAND, 2003. "Racial Discrimination in the Brazilian Labor Market: Wage, Employment and Segregation Effects," Working Papers 200314, CERDI. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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