Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Jaime Saavedra, José R. Molinas, Ricardo Paes De Barros and Francisco Ferreira

No 361 in IDB Publications (Books) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: Equality of opportunity is about leveling the playing field so that circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, place of birth, or family background do not influence a person's life chances. Success in life should depend on people's choices, effort and talents, not to their circumstances at birth. 'Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean' introduces new methods for measuring inequality of opportunities and makes an assessment of its evolution in Latin America over a decade. An innovative Human Opportunity Index and other parametric and non-parametric techniques are presented for quantifying inequality based on circumstances exogenous to individual efforts. These methods are applied to gauge inequality of opportunities in access to basic services for children, learning achievement for youth, and income and consumption for adults. This publication belongs to the Latin American Development Forum Series (LADF), sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the World Bank.

Keywords: inequality; equal opportunities; Human Opportunity Index; child welfare; LADF; Latin American Development Forum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
ISBN: 9780821377451
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (54)

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Book: Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean (2009)
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