EOPM - Multidimensional Equality of Opportunity
Empirical Social Research
Statistics and Econometrics
Final Report Abstract
In this project we built a bridge between the literature on equality of opportunity and individual wellbeing. On the one hand, equality of opportunity is an important normative principle stating that life outcomes should not depend on circumstances that are beyond individual control. On the other hand, individual well-being depends on many aspects of life and cannot be proxied by a single outcome variable. Up to this project, the inequality of opportunity literature focused on unidimensional outcomes and did not reflect the multidimensionality of individual well-being. In analogy, the literature on individual well-being focused on outcome inequalities but did not reflect inequality of opportunity. This gap has been addressed over the course of this project. The project has led to four principal research outputs. First, we have constructed multidimensional ex-ante measures of inequality of opportunity. According to these measures, differences between circumstance groups should be minimized. It provides a multidimensional version of the dominant measure applied in the empirical literature on inequality of opportunity. Second, we have constructed multidimensional ex-post measures of inequality of opportunity. According to these measures, differences between individuals exerting similar levels of efforts should be minimized. It provides a multidimensional version of the measure suggested in the early empirical literature on inequality of opportunity. Third, we use the ex-ante measure to re-assess inequality of opportunity trends in the US while accounting for the multidimensionality of monetary resources. In particular, we extend existing literature by focusing on how the joint distribution of income and wealth depends on circumstances beyond individual control. We show that a multidimensional perspective leads to both level increases in inequality of opportunity, as well as steeper increases in inequality of opportunity over time. Fourth, we use the ex-ante measure to make fairness comparisons across 29 European societies in 2019 by focusing on the joint distribution of income, education, and health. Thereby, we extend existing literature that has predominantly focused on unidimensional fairness comparisons. We show that a multidimensional perspective decreases opportunity differences across European societies as the opportunities offered by different countries are imperfectly correlated across outcome domain We look forward to using these measures in other applications in the future.
Publications
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(2020). Measuring multidimensional inequality of opportunity. ECINEQ Working Paper Series 528
Kapera, M., Kobus, M., and Peragine, V.
