Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/322098 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 25/25
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
According to the Kuznets hypothesis, inequality first tends to increase and then decrease as a country develops. Whether borne out empirically, this inverted-U Kuznets curve, as a stylized 'fact', has shaped the discourse on economic development and income inequality for decades. In this paper we investigate whether a similar relationship holds between national income per capita and inequality of opportunity: the inequality associated with inherited individual circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, and family background. As, empirically, inequality of opportunity is positively correlated with income inequality (a relationship known as the 'Great Gatsby' curve), the relationship between inequality of opportunity and 'development' is expected to display the same inverted-U shape. We suggest that the existence of a Kuznets inequality of opportunity curve can be the result of a 'triangular' relationship between development, income inequality, and inequality of opportunity. We propose a simple theoretical model that links the three concepts and describes two possible mechanisms. A numerical simulation based on the model illustrates the process. We then draw on the newly published Global Estimates of Opportunity and Mobility database to shed new light on this 'triangular' relationship, primarily in a cross-sectional context.
Subjects: 
inequality
opportunity
development
Kuznets
Gatsby
JEL: 
D31
D63
O15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-582-4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.