Inequality of Outcomes and Inequality of Opportunities in Brazil
The authors depart from John Roemer's theory of equality of opportunities. They seek to determine what part of observed outcome inequality may be attributed to differences in observed "circumstances," including family background, and...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/12/2859439/inequality-outcomes-inequality-opportunities-brazil http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17681 |
| Summary: | The authors depart from John
Roemer's theory of equality of opportunities. They seek
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." The
authors use a microeconometric technique to simulate what
the distribution of outcomes would look like if
circumstances were the same for everybody. They apply this
technique to Brazilian data from the 1996 household survey,
both for earnings and for household incomes. The authors
show that observed circumstances are a major source of
outcome inequality in Brazil, probably more so than in other
countries for which information is available. Nevertheless,
the level of inequality after observed circumstances are
equalized remains very high in Brazil. |
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