How Useful is Inequality of Opportunity as a Policy Construct?
The academic literature on equality of opportunity has burgeoned. The concepts and measures have begun to be used by policy institutions, including in specific sectors such as health and education. It is argued that one advantage of focusing on equ...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19894791/useful-inequality-opportunity-policy-construct http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19342 |
| Summary: | The academic literature on equality of
opportunity has burgeoned. The concepts and measures have
begun to be used by policy institutions, including in
specific sectors such as health and education. It is argued
that one advantage of focusing on equality of opportunity is
that policy makers are more responsive to that discourse
than to equality of outcomes per se. This paper presents a
critique of equality of opportunity in the policy context.
Although the empirical analysis to which the literature has
given rise is useful and is to be welcomed, current methods
for quantifying and implementing the concept with a view to
informing the policy discourse face a series of fundamental
questions that remain unanswered. Without a full
appreciation of these difficulties, the methods may prove to
be misleading in the policy context. |
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