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A Gini approach to inequality of opportunity: evidence from the PSID

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  • Antonio Abatemarco

Abstract

Given (pragmatic) partial ordering criteria for the comparison of individuals in terms of both circumstances and responsible choices, a Gini-based approach is proposed for the measurement of opportunity inequality and its (relative) contribution to outcome inequality. An application to US income distributions from 1999 to 2009 is also discussed. Given six circumstance variables (gender, health, economic condition of parents in the early years, ethnicity, IQ score in the early years and unemployment rate in the place of origin), opportunity inequality is found to account for between 15.0 and 16.6 % of outcome inequality from 1999 to 2009 with a U-shaped pattern over time, supporting existing evidence on the inequality implications of financial crises. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Abatemarco, 2015. "A Gini approach to inequality of opportunity: evidence from the PSID," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1497-1519, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:49:y:2015:i:4:p:1497-1519
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-015-0918-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo Carrieri & Andrew M. Jones, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in health: A decomposition‐based approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(12), pages 1981-1995, December.
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    3. Abatemarco, Antonio, 2016. "Doing rawls justice: Evidence from the PSID," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-39.
    4. Davillas, Apostolos & Jones, Andrew M, 2020. "Ex ante inequality of opportunity in health, decomposition and distributional analysis of biomarkers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Ibragimova, Zulfiya & Frants, Marina, 2021. "Measuring income opportunity inequality: A structural review and meta-analysis," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 61, pages 89-109.
    6. Vincenzo Carrieri & Apostolos Davillas & Andrew M. Jones, 2023. "Equality of opportunity and the expansion of higher education in the UK," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(4), pages 861-885, December.
    7. Antonio Abatemarco & Sergio Beraldo & Francesca Stroffolini, 2020. "Equality of opportunity in health care: access and equal access revisited," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 13-29, March.
    8. Truong Lam Do & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2022. "Livestock production and income inequality in rural Vietnam," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 409-438, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Opportunity; Measurement; Gini; D63; D31;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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