Work

Equality of Opportunity: Theory and Measurement

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: During the last third of the twentieth century, political philosophers actively debated about the content of distributive justice; the ruling ethical view of utilitarianism was challenged by various versions of equality of opportunities. Economists formulated several ways of modeling these ideas, focusing upon how individuals are placed with respect to opportunities for achieving various outcomes, and what compensation is due to individuals with truncated opportunities. After presenting a review of the main philosophical ideas (section 2), we turn to economic models (sections 3 and 4). We propose a reformulation of the definition of economic development, replacing the utilitarian measure of GDP per capita with a measure of the degree to which opportunities for income acquisition in a nation have been equalized. Finally, we discuss issues that the econometrician faces in measuring inequality of opportunity, briefly review the empirical literature (section 6), and conclude (section 7). (JEL C43, D63, D70, I24)

Source: Journal of Economic Literature

DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151206

Authors: John E. Roemer, Alain Trannoy

Institutions: Yale University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques, École des hautes études en sciences sociales

Language: English

Topic: Income, Poverty, and Inequality

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche