IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jpolmo/v40y2018i6p1255-1271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inequality of opportunity in the United Kingdom, 1991–2008

Author

Listed:
  • Groot, Loek
  • van der Linde, Daan
  • Vincent, Charlotte

Abstract

We investigate the extent to which the tax-and-transfer system of the United Kingdom equalizes opportunities for income attainment among citizens. Within the framework of Roemer’s theory of Equality of Opportunity, and using individual data from the British Household Panel Survey from 1991 to 2008, we calculate the tax rates necessary to equalize opportunities for different circumstances. We provide a ranking of these circumstances by the degree to which they influence income attainment. Although pre-fisc equality of opportunity increases over time, the tax rate necessary to equalize opportunities remains higher than the observed tax rate. Only under a relatively high labour supply elasticity the observed UK tax rate fares well in equalizing opportunities for income attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Groot, Loek & van der Linde, Daan & Vincent, Charlotte, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in the United Kingdom, 1991–2008," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1255-1271.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:40:y:2018:i:6:p:1255-1271
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2018.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893818301030
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2018.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Fields, Gary S., 2007. "How much should we care about changing income inequality in the course of economic growth?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 577-585.
    3. Herzer, Dierk & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2013. "Rising top incomes do not raise the tide," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 504-519.
    4. Roemer, John E. & Aaberge, Rolf & Colombino, Ugo & Fritzell, Johan & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Lefranc, Arnaud & Marx, Ive & Page, Marianne & Pommer, Evert & Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 2003. "To what extent do fiscal regimes equalize opportunities for income acquisition among citizens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 539-565, March.
    5. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Vito Peragine, 2015. "Equality of opportunity: Theory and evidence," Working Papers 359, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    6. Chevalier, Arnaud & Harmon, Colm & O'Sullivan, Vincent & Walker, Ian, 2013. "The Impact of Parental Income and Education on the Schooling of Children," Papers WP468, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    7. Mongan, Juan Carlos & Santin, Daniel & Valiño, Aurelia, 2011. "Towards the equality of educational opportunity in the province of Buenos Aires," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 583-596, July.
    8. Betts, Julian & Roemer, John E., 2005. "Equalizing Opportunity for Racial and Socioeconomic Groups in the United States Through Educational Finance Reform," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt0gq4z4m9, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    9. Roemer, John E. & Aaberge, Rolf & Colombino, Ugo & Fritzell, Johan & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Lefranc, Arnaud & Marx, Ive & Page, Marianne & Pommer, Evert & Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 2003. "To what extent do fiscal regimes equalize opportunities for income acquisition among citizens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 539-565, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Flaviana Palmisano & Vito Peragine & Federico Biagi, 2019. "Inequality of opportunity in tertiary education in Europe," JRC Research Reports JRC118543, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Erik Figueiredo & José Silva Netto Junior, 2014. "More equal but not so fair: an analysis of Brazilian income distribution from 1995 to 2009," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1325-1337, June.
    3. Flaviana Palmisano & Federico Biagi & Vito Peragine, 2022. "Inequality of Opportunity in Tertiary Education: Evidence from Europe," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(3), pages 514-565, May.
    4. Jaya Krishnakumar & Ricardo Nogales, 2020. "Public Policies and Equality of Opportunity for Wellbeing in Multiple Dimensions: A Theoretical Discussion and Evidence from Bolivia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 297-325, May.
    5. Ooghe, Erwin & Peichl, Andreas, 2010. "Fair and Efficient Taxation under Partial Control: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Vito Peragine & Laura Serlenga, 2008. "Higher education and equality of opportunity in Italy," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality and Opportunity: Papers from the Second ECINEQ Society Meeting, pages 67-97, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. P. Brunori & F. Palmisano & V. Peragine, 2014. "Income taxation and equity: new dominance criteria and an application to Romania," SERIES 0050, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Dec 2014.
    8. Felipe Rivera, 2017. "Health opportunities in Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 87, pages 125-164, Julio - D.
    9. Schokkaert, Erik & Van de gaer, Dirk & Vandenbroucke, Frank & Luttens, Roland Iwan, 2004. "Responsibility sensitive egalitarianism and optimal linear income taxation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 151-182, September.
    10. Marc Fleurbaey & Vito Peragine, 2013. "Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Equality of Opportunity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(317), pages 118-130, January.
    11. Vito Peragine & Flaviana Palmisano & Paolo Brunori, 2014. "Economic Growth and Equality of Opportunity," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 247-281.
    12. Julián Costas-Fernández & Simón Lodato, 2022. "Inequality, poverty and the composition of redistribution," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 59(4), pages 925-967, November.
    13. Conti, Valentina & Kopinska, Joanna, 2018. "The role of parental cognitive ageing in the intergenerational mobility of cognitive abilities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 38-47.
    14. Bourguignon, François & Bussolo, Maurizio, 2013. "Income Distribution in Computable General Equilibrium Modeling," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1383-1437, Elsevier.
    15. A Parrott, Kristin & Huslage, Melody & Cronley, Courtney, 2022. "Educational equity: A scoping review of the state of literature exploring educational outcomes and correlates for children experiencing homelessness," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Jake Anders & Francis Green & Morag Henderson & Golo Henseke, 2020. "Determinants of private school participation: all about the money?," CEPEO Working Paper Series 20-06, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Feb 2020.
    17. Roland Iwan Luttens & Erwin Ooghe, 2007. "Is it Fair to ‘Make Work Pay’?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 599-626, November.
    18. Giannelli, Gianna Claudia & Rapallini, Chiara, 2016. "Immigrant student performance in Math: Does it matter where you come from?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 291-304.
    19. Aaberge, Rolf & Mogstad, Magne & Peragine, Vito, 2011. "Measuring long-term inequality of opportunity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 193-204.
    20. Niehues, Judith & Peichl, Andreas, 2011. "Lower and Upper Bounds of Unfair Inequality: Theory and Evidence for Germany and the US," IZA Discussion Papers 5834, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equality of opportunity; Inequality; Gender; Optimal taxation; Labour supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:40:y:2018:i:6:p:1255-1271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505735 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.