This paper develops a new index of inequality of opportunity for income
based on the mean logarithmic deviation inequality index. It relies on
standard intergenerational earnings regression models and allows decomposing
total income inequality into two parts: inequality that is inherited from
previous generation and inequality that is independent of individual
circumstances. The index emphasized that inequality of opportunity results
from to key ingredients: the extent of inequality among parents and the
degree of intergenerational transmission of parental inequality. This new
index is applied to a comparison of inequality of opportunity for income
acquisition in France and the United States and to an analysis of changes in
inequality of opportunity over the last three decades.
Presented by:
Arnaud Lefranc (Associate professor of economics and Director of THEMA research center Université de Cergy-Pontoise)
Date & time:
December 16, 2009 1:00 pm - December 16, 2009 2:00 pm
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