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Measuring Progress Toward Basic Opportunities for All

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  • Barros, Ricardo Paes de
  • Vega, José R. Molinas
  • Saavedra, Jaime
Abstract
Universal access to basic opportunities is undoubtedly a central objective of development. In this study, we propose an alternative scalar measure. In addition to being sensitive to the number of available opportunities, this new measure is also concerned with how these opportunities are allocated, and is therefore known as an equity sensitive coverage rate. The proposed measure is increasing in the overall coverage rate and decreasing in deviations from the ideal of equal opportunity. It is obtained by deducting a penalty equal to the deviation from the ideal of equal opportunity from the overall coverage rate. We show that this equity sensitive measure has several suitable properties. In particular, we demonstrate that it is consistent with both rst- and second-order stochastic dominance. As a consequence, this measure is Pareto-consistent and sensitive to improvements in the allocation of the available opportunities. According to this index, any increase in thenumber of opportunities that also leads to an increase in the average coverage rate among the most vulnerable groups would always represent a progress towards opportunities for all. In addition, we propose an estimation procedure for the index and its variance.

Suggested Citation

  • Barros, Ricardo Paes de & Vega, José R. Molinas & Saavedra, Jaime, 2010. "Measuring Progress Toward Basic Opportunities for All," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 30(2), December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sbe:breart:v:30:y:2010:i:2:a:3687
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Denis Cogneau & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2008. "Inequality of opportunity for income in five countries of Africa," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality and Opportunity: Papers from the Second ECINEQ Society Meeting, pages 99-128, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Aaberge, Rolf & Langørgen, Audun & Mogstad, Magne & Østensen, Marit, 2008. "The Impact of Local Public Services and Geographical Cost of Living Differences on Poverty Estimates," IZA Discussion Papers 3686, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1552 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Roemer, John E. & Aaberge, Rolf & Colombino, Ugo & Fritzell, Johan & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Lefranc, Arnaud & Marx, Ive & Page, Marianne & Pommer, Evert & Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 2003. "To what extent do fiscal regimes equalize opportunities for income acquisition among citizens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 539-565, March.
    5. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4320 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Aaberge, Rolf & Bhuller, Manudeep & Langørgen, Audun & Mogstad, Magne, 2010. "The distributional impact of public services when needs differ," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 549-562, October.
    7. François Bourguignon & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Marta Menéndez, 2007. "Inequality Of Opportunity In Brazil," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(4), pages 585-618, December.
    8. Lefranc, Arnaud & Pistolesi, Nicolas & Trannoy, Alain, 2009. "Equality of opportunity and luck: Definitions and testable conditions, with an application to income in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1189-1207, December.
    9. Daniele Checchi & Vitorocco Peragine & Laura Serlenga, 2008. "Income Inequality and Opportunity Inequality in Europe," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 98(5), pages 263-292, September.
    10. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Jérémie Gignoux, 2011. "The Measurement Of Inequality Of Opportunity: Theory And An Application To Latin America," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57(4), pages 622-657, December.
    11. Roemer, John E. & Aaberge, Rolf & Colombino, Ugo & Fritzell, Johan & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Lefranc, Arnaud & Marx, Ive & Page, Marianne & Pommer, Evert & Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 2003. "To what extent do fiscal regimes equalize opportunities for income acquisition among citizens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 539-565, March.
    12. Vito Peragine, 2004. "Measuring and implementing equality of opportunity for income," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 22(1), pages 187-210, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Balcazar, Carlos Felipe & Narayan, Ambar & Tiwari, Sailesh, 2015. "Born with a silver spoon : inequality in educational achievement across the world," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7152, The World Bank.
    2. Balcázar, Carlos Felipe, 2015. "Lower bounds on inequality of opportunity and measurement error," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 102-105.
    3. World Bank, 2012. "Monitoring Basic Opportunities throughout the Lifecycle with the Human Opportunity Index in Chile," World Bank Publications - Reports 11919, The World Bank Group.
    4. Rose Mungai & Stephen Okiya, 2019. "Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia," World Bank Publications - Reports 34340, The World Bank Group.
    5. Ana Abras & Alejandro Hoyos & Ambar Narayan & Sailesh Tiwari, 2013. "Inequality of opportunities in the labor market: evidence from life in transition surveys in Europe and Central Asia," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Molina, Ezequiel & Narayan, Ambar & Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime, 2013. "Outcomes, opportunity and development : why unequal opportunities and not outcomes hinder economic development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6735, The World Bank.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "Burkina Faso : Opportunities for Children," World Bank Publications - Reports 15991, The World Bank Group.
    8. Narayan, Ambar & Saavedra-Chanduvi, Jaime & Tiwari, Sailesh, 2013. "Shared prosperity : links to growth, inequality and inequality of opportunity," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6649, The World Bank.
    9. World Bank Group, 2016. "Moving Up the Ladder," World Bank Publications - Reports 25173, The World Bank Group.

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