Inequality of Opportunity, Income Inequality and Economic Mobility : Some International Comparisons
Despite a recent surge in the number of studies attempting to measure inequality of opportunity in various countries, methodological differences have so far prevented meaningful international comparisons. This paper presents a comparison of ex-ante...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17150436/inequality-opportunity-income-inequality-economic-mobility-some-international-comparisons http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12193 |
| Summary: | Despite a recent surge in the number of
studies attempting to measure inequality of opportunity in
various countries, methodological differences have so far
prevented meaningful international comparisons. This paper
presents a comparison of ex-ante measures of inequality of
economic opportunity (IEO) across 41 countries, and of the
Human Opportunity Index (HOI) for 39 countries. It also
examines international correlations between these indices
and output per capita, income inequality, and
intergenerational mobility. The analysis finds evidence of a
"Kuznets curve" for inequality of opportunity, and
finds that the IEO index is positively correlated with
overall income inequality, and negatively with measures of
intergenerational mobility, both in incomes and in years of
schooling. The HOI is highly correlated with the Human
Development Index, and its internal measure of inequality of
opportunity yields very different country rankings from the
IEO measure. |
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