Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/69406 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7155
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
equality of opportunity
income inequality
social mobility
mobility
JEL: 
D71
D91
I32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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