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The perception of inequality of opportunity in Europe

Author

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  • Paolo Brunori

    (Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")

Abstract
Does the way scholars measure inequality of opportunity correspond to how people perceive it? What other factors influence individual perception of this phenomenon? To answer these questions we must first clarify how scholars define and measure inequality of opportunity. We discuss the possible mechanisms linking objective measures to subjective perception of the phenomenon, then propose a measure of perceived inequality of opportunity, and finally test our hypothesis by merging data coming from two sources: the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (2011) and the International Social Survey Programme (2009). We suggest that the prevailing perception of the degree of unequal opportunity in a large sample of respondents is only weakly correlated with its objective measure. We estimate a multilevel model considering both individual and country level controls to explain individual perception of unequal opportunity. Our estimates suggest that the two most adopted measures of inequality of opportunity have not clear role in explaining its perception. Conversely, other country level variables and personal experiences of intergenerational social mobility are important determinants of how inequality of opportunity is perceived.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Brunori, 2016. "The perception of inequality of opportunity in Europe," SERIES 04-2016, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Jun 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:bai:series:series_wp_04-2016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Patricia Justino & Bruno Martorano, 2016. "Inequality, Distributive Beliefs and Protests: A Recent Story from Latin America," Working Papers - Economics wp2016_06.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    2. Michał Litwiński & Rafał Iwański & Łukasz Tomczak, 2023. "Acceptance for Income Inequality in Poland," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 381-412, April.
    3. Shuanglong Li & Yunsong Chen & Guangye He, 2019. "Mapping Public Concerns About Class Immobility in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 745-765, July.
    4. Mkupete Jaah Mkupete & Dieter Von Fintel & Ronelle Burger, 2022. "Decomposing inequality of opportunity in child health in Tanzania: The role of access to water and sanitation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(11), pages 2465-2480, November.
    5. Rafael Carranza, 2023. "Upper and Lower Bound Estimates of Inequality of Opportunity: A Cross‐National Comparison for Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(4), pages 838-860, December.
    6. Antonino Callea & Dalila De Rosa & Giovanni Ferri & Francesca Lipari & Marco Costanzi, 2022. "Can Emotional Intelligence promote Individual Wellbeing and protect from perceptions' traps?," CERBE Working Papers wpC39, CERBE Center for Relationship Banking and Economics.
    7. Kristof Bosmans & Z. Emel Öztürk, 2021. "Measurement of inequality of opportunity: A normative approach," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(2), pages 213-237, June.
    8. Gimpelson, V. & Chernina, E., 2020. "How we perceive our place in income distribution and how the perceptions deviate from reality," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 30-56.
    9. Brock, J. Michelle, 2020. "Unfair inequality, governance and individual beliefs," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 658-687.
    10. Ibrahim, Solava, 2021. "The dynamics of the Egyptian social contract: How the political changes affected the poor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Schwaiger, Rene & Huber, Jürgen & Kirchler, Michael & Kleinlercher, Daniel & Weitzel, Utz, 2022. "Unequal opportunities, social groups, and redistribution: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    12. Bavetta, Sebastiano & Li Donni, Paolo & Marino, Maria, 2020. "How consistent are perceptions of inequality?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Mark Taylor & Dave O’Brien, 2017. "‘Culture is a Meritocracy’: Why Creative Workers’ Attitudes may Reinforce Social Inequality," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(4), pages 27-47, December.
    14. Kuhn, Andreas, 2019. "The subversive nature of inequality: Subjective inequality perceptions and attitudes to social inequality," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 331-344.
    15. Knight, John & Gunatilaka, Ramani, 2022. "Income inequality and happiness: Which inequalities matter in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    16. Soraya Caro Vargas, editor, 2020. "Economic Corridors in Asia: Paradigm of Integration? A Reflection for Latin America," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Finanzas, Gobierno y Relaciones Internacionales, number 139, April.
    17. European Commission, 2017. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2017 Survey," Taxation Survey 2017, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    18. Andreas Kuhn, 2020. "The individual (mis-)perception of wage inequality: measurement, correlates and implications," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2039-2069, November.
    19. Clifford Afoakwah & Xin Deng & Ilke Onur, 2023. "Reforms and education inequality in Ghana," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 853-878, May.
    20. Andrea Salas‐Ortiz & Andrew M. Jones, 2024. "Inequality of opportunity in the double burden of malnutrition in Mexico," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(10), pages 2342-2380, October.
    21. Alexander Ugarov, 2019. "Talent Misallocation across Countries: Evidence from Educational Achievement Tests," 2019 Meeting Papers 1466, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    22. Rene Schwaiger & Jürgen Huber & Michael Kirchler & Daniel Kleinlercher & Utz Weitzel, 2020. "Unequal Opportunities, Social Groups, and Redistribution: Evidence from the General Population," Working Papers 2020-26, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality of opportunity; inequality perception; intergenerational mobility; attribution theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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