Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development
This paper studies the relationship between inequality of opportunity and development outcomes in a cross-country setting. Scholars have long debated the impact of inequality on growth, development, and the quality of institutions in a society. The...
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| Format: | Publications & Research |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/12/18730827/outcomes-opportunity-development-unequal-opportunities-not-outcomes-hinder-economic-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21472 |
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okr-10986-21472 |
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oai_dc |
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Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
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World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ADULT POPULATION ADVERSE IMPACT AGRICULTURE ASSET DISTRIBUTION BIBLIOGRAPHY CAPITAL ACCUMULATION CHILD LABOR CHILD MORTALITY CHILD WELFARE CITIZENS CLASSIFICATION COAUTHORS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS COUNTRY LEVEL CROSS-COUNTRY DATA DATA SET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIAL PATHS DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN DISADVANTAGED GROUPS DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH DISTRIBUTIONAL MEASURES DIVIDENDS EARLY CHILDHOOD ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC HISTORIANS ECONOMIC HISTORY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PROSPERITY ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMIC STUDIES ECONOMIES OF SCALE EDUCATION SYSTEMS ELASTICITY EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL RESULTS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPIRICAL WORK ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE EQUAL DISTRIBUTION EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EQUAL SOCIETIES EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EXPLANATORY POWER EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FACTOR ENDOWMENTS FAMILY INCOME FAMILY STRUCTURE FUTURE RESEARCH GDP GDP PER CAPITA GINI COEFFICIENT GINI INDEX GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITA GROWTH PROSPECTS HISTORICAL DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN POTENTIAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INEQUALITY MEASURES INFANT INFANT MORTALITY INFANT MORTALITY RATE INTERVENTIONS LABOR INCOME LABOR MARKET LAND OWNERSHIP LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT LEVEL OF EDUCATION LONG-RUN GROWTH MEASURING INEQUALITY NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE IMPACT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP 0 HYPOTHESIS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITION PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY PER CAPITA INCOME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL ECONOMY CHANNEL POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL SCIENCE POOR HEALTH POSITIVE EFFECT POSITIVE IMPACT POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP POVERTY REDUCTION PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PROBABILITY PROGRAMS PROGRESS PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC ECONOMICS READING REDUCING INEQUALITY REGIONAL DUMMIES RELATIVE IMPORTANCE RESEARCHERS RESPECT SANITATION SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SECONDARY ENROLLMENT SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH UNEQUAL POWER VICIOUS CYCLE WAGES WEALTH WEB |
| spellingShingle |
ADULT POPULATION ADVERSE IMPACT AGRICULTURE ASSET DISTRIBUTION BIBLIOGRAPHY CAPITAL ACCUMULATION CHILD LABOR CHILD MORTALITY CHILD WELFARE CITIZENS CLASSIFICATION COAUTHORS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS COUNTRY LEVEL CROSS-COUNTRY DATA DATA SET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIAL PATHS DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN DISADVANTAGED GROUPS DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH DISTRIBUTIONAL MEASURES DIVIDENDS EARLY CHILDHOOD ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC HISTORIANS ECONOMIC HISTORY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PROSPERITY ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMIC STUDIES ECONOMIES OF SCALE EDUCATION SYSTEMS ELASTICITY EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL RESULTS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPIRICAL WORK ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE EQUAL DISTRIBUTION EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EQUAL SOCIETIES EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EXPLANATORY POWER EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FACTOR ENDOWMENTS FAMILY INCOME FAMILY STRUCTURE FUTURE RESEARCH GDP GDP PER CAPITA GINI COEFFICIENT GINI INDEX GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITA GROWTH PROSPECTS HISTORICAL DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN POTENTIAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INEQUALITY MEASURES INFANT INFANT MORTALITY INFANT MORTALITY RATE INTERVENTIONS LABOR INCOME LABOR MARKET LAND OWNERSHIP LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT LEVEL OF EDUCATION LONG-RUN GROWTH MEASURING INEQUALITY NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE IMPACT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP 0 HYPOTHESIS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITION PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY PER CAPITA INCOME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL ECONOMY CHANNEL POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL SCIENCE POOR HEALTH POSITIVE EFFECT POSITIVE IMPACT POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP POVERTY REDUCTION PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PROBABILITY PROGRAMS PROGRESS PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC ECONOMICS READING REDUCING INEQUALITY REGIONAL DUMMIES RELATIVE IMPORTANCE RESEARCHERS RESPECT SANITATION SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SECONDARY ENROLLMENT SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH UNEQUAL POWER VICIOUS CYCLE WAGES WEALTH WEB Molina, Ezequiel Narayan, Ambar Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6735 |
| description |
This paper studies the relationship
between inequality of opportunity and development outcomes
in a cross-country setting. Scholars have long debated the
impact of inequality on growth, development, and the quality
of institutions in a society. The empirical relationships
are however confounded by the notion that
"inequality" can be seen as a composite of
inequality arising from differences in effort and ability,
which would tend to encourage competition and productivity,
and inequality attributable to unequal opportunities,
particularly in terms of access to basic goods and services,
which might translate to wasted human potential and lower
levels of development. The analysis in this paper applies a
measure of educational opportunities that incorporates
inequality between "types" or circumstance groups.
Theories from economic history are used to instrument for
this type of inequality in a large cross-country dataset.
The results seem to confirm the hypothesis that this measure
of inequality of opportunity is a better fit for structural
inequality than the Gini index of income. The results
suggest that inequality of endowments at the outset of
history led to unequal educational opportunities, which in
turn affected development outcomes such as institutional
quality, infant mortality, and economic growth. The findings
are robust to several checks on the instrumental variable specification. |
| format |
Publications & Research |
| author |
Molina, Ezequiel Narayan, Ambar Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime |
| author_facet |
Molina, Ezequiel Narayan, Ambar Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime |
| author_sort |
Molina, Ezequiel |
| title |
Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| title_short |
Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| title_full |
Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| title_fullStr |
Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development |
| title_sort |
outcomes, opportunity and development : why unequal opportunities and not outcomes hinder economic development |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/12/18730827/outcomes-opportunity-development-unequal-opportunities-not-outcomes-hinder-economic-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21472 |
| _version_ |
1764448375439097856 |
| spelling |
okr-10986-214722021-04-23T14:04:02Z Outcomes, Opportunity and Development : Why Unequal Opportunities and Not Outcomes Hinder Economic Development Molina, Ezequiel Narayan, Ambar Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime ADULT POPULATION ADVERSE IMPACT AGRICULTURE ASSET DISTRIBUTION BIBLIOGRAPHY CAPITAL ACCUMULATION CHILD LABOR CHILD MORTALITY CHILD WELFARE CITIZENS CLASSIFICATION COAUTHORS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS COUNTRY LEVEL CROSS-COUNTRY DATA DATA SET DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIAL PATHS DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN DISADVANTAGED GROUPS DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH DISTRIBUTIONAL MEASURES DIVIDENDS EARLY CHILDHOOD ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC HISTORIANS ECONOMIC HISTORY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PROSPERITY ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMIC STUDIES ECONOMIES OF SCALE EDUCATION SYSTEMS ELASTICITY EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL RESULTS EMPIRICAL STUDIES EMPIRICAL WORK ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE EQUAL DISTRIBUTION EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EQUAL SOCIETIES EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EXPLANATORY POWER EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FACTOR ENDOWMENTS FAMILY INCOME FAMILY STRUCTURE FUTURE RESEARCH GDP GDP PER CAPITA GINI COEFFICIENT GINI INDEX GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITA GROWTH PROSPECTS HISTORICAL DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN POTENTIAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INEQUALITY MEASURES INFANT INFANT MORTALITY INFANT MORTALITY RATE INTERVENTIONS LABOR INCOME LABOR MARKET LAND OWNERSHIP LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT LEVEL OF EDUCATION LONG-RUN GROWTH MEASURING INEQUALITY NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE IMPACT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP 0 HYPOTHESIS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITION PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY PER CAPITA INCOME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL ECONOMY CHANNEL POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL POWER POLITICAL SCIENCE POOR HEALTH POSITIVE EFFECT POSITIVE IMPACT POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP POVERTY REDUCTION PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PROBABILITY PROGRAMS PROGRESS PROPERTY RIGHTS PUBLIC ECONOMICS READING REDUCING INEQUALITY REGIONAL DUMMIES RELATIVE IMPORTANCE RESEARCHERS RESPECT SANITATION SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SECONDARY ENROLLMENT SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH UNEQUAL POWER VICIOUS CYCLE WAGES WEALTH WEB This paper studies the relationship between inequality of opportunity and development outcomes in a cross-country setting. Scholars have long debated the impact of inequality on growth, development, and the quality of institutions in a society. The empirical relationships are however confounded by the notion that "inequality" can be seen as a composite of inequality arising from differences in effort and ability, which would tend to encourage competition and productivity, and inequality attributable to unequal opportunities, particularly in terms of access to basic goods and services, which might translate to wasted human potential and lower levels of development. The analysis in this paper applies a measure of educational opportunities that incorporates inequality between "types" or circumstance groups. Theories from economic history are used to instrument for this type of inequality in a large cross-country dataset. The results seem to confirm the hypothesis that this measure of inequality of opportunity is a better fit for structural inequality than the Gini index of income. The results suggest that inequality of endowments at the outset of history led to unequal educational opportunities, which in turn affected development outcomes such as institutional quality, infant mortality, and economic growth. The findings are robust to several checks on the instrumental variable specification. 2015-02-23T20:42:44Z 2015-02-23T20:42:44Z 2013-12 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/12/18730827/outcomes-opportunity-development-unequal-opportunities-not-outcomes-hinder-economic-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21472 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6735 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |