IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jed/journl/v46y2021i1p107-137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inequality of Opportunity and Degree of Human Development: Evidence from Tunisia

Author

Listed:
  • Saidi Anis (a) , Hamdaoui Mekki (b) and Ochi Anis (b)

    ((a) University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia; (b) University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia)

Abstract

There are many socio-economic factors beyond the individual control that can affect human development indicators. In this setting, this paper aims to examine the effects and evolution of unequal opportunities on the distribution of human development indicators embodied by monetary well-being (consumption) and education in Tunisia for the period 2005-2010. We used parametric and non-parametric approach in addition to Dissimilarity-Index and Shapley’s Decomposition to identify most important factors explaining inequality of chances in Tunisia. We found that Father’s education, residence area, and connection to drinking water appears to be the most important background variables affecting well-being profile. However, child’s sex appears to be the most important determinant of the accessibility to education. Inequality of opportunity in consumption and education persists and tends to increase over time which is undesirable for the country. As an economic implication of our results, policy makers must make appropriate policies to reduce intergenerational transmission of parental background and sex discrimination and to overcome traps of inequality for future generations

Suggested Citation

  • Saidi Anis (a) , Hamdaoui Mekki (b) and Ochi Anis (b), 2021. "Inequality of Opportunity and Degree of Human Development: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 107-137, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:46:y:2021:i:1:p:107-137
    DOI: 10.35866/caujed.2021.46.1.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jed.or.kr/full-text/46-1/5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.35866/caujed.2021.46.1.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. X. Ramos & D. Van De Gaer, 2012. "Empirical Approaches to Inequality of Opportunity: Principles, Measures, and Evidence," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 12/792, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Sami Bibi & Mustapha K. Nabli, 2009. "Income Inequality in the Arab Region: Data and Measurement, Patterns and Trends," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 275-314, January.
    3. François Bourguignon & Francisco Ferreira & Michael Walton, 2007. "Equity, efficiency and inequality traps: A research agenda," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(2), pages 235-256, August.
    4. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Peragine, Vito, 2015. "Equality of Opportunity: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8994, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. F. Chantreuil & A. Trannoy, 1999. "Inequality decomposition values : the trade-off between marginality and consistency," THEMA Working Papers 99-24, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    6. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Nadia Belhaj Hassine & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2012. "Inequality of Opportunity in Child Health in the Arab World and Turkey," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 1250006-121, January.
    7. Sami Bibi & Mustapha K. Nabli, 2009. "Income Inequality In The Arab Region: Data And Measurement, Patterns And Trends," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 275-314.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi‐Isfahani, 2018. "Inequality of Opportunity in Wages and Consumption in Egypt," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(s1), pages 26-54, October.
    11. Hatem Jemmali, 2019. "Inequality of Opportunities among Tunisian Children over Time and Space," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(1), pages 213-234, February.
    12. Krafft, Caroline & Alawode, Halimat, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in higher education in the Middle East and North Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 234-244.
    13. Hatem Jemmali & Mohamed Amara, 2018. "On Measuring and Decomposing Inequality of Opportunity among Children: Evidence from Tunisia," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 137-155, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anis Saidi & Mekki Hamdaoui & Wajdi Moussa, 2021. "Assessing Policy Effectiveness in Reducing Inequality of Opportunity in Access to Public Services and Education Among Tunisian Children," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 993-1018, September.
    2. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Nadia Belhaj Hassine, 2012. "Equality of Opportunity in Education in the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers e07-33, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Fotso Koyeu, Fourier Prevost & Ningaye, Paul & Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort, 2019. "How Does Inequality of Opportunities Affect the Distribution of Economic Wellbeing in Cameroon," MPRA Paper 92556, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Nadia Hassine & Ragui Assaad, 2014. "Equality of opportunity in educational achievement in the Middle East and North Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(4), pages 489-515, December.
    5. Saidi Anis & Hamdaoui Mekki, 2021. "Level of Fairness and Justice in Labor Market: Evidence from Tunisia Post-Revolution," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1187-1214, September.
    6. Bassma Said Jellali, 2019. "Assessing Policy Effectiveness to Measure Inequality of Opportunity in Wellbeing and Education: Case of Tunisia," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 5(2), pages 65-77.
    7. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Peragine, Vito, 2015. "Equality of Opportunity: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8994, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption: the Middle East and North Africa Region in Comparative Perspective," Working Papers 1003, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    9. Panchanan Das & Sumita Biswas, 2022. "Social Identity, Gender and Unequal Opportunity of Earning in Urban India: 2017–2018 to 2019–2020," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(1), pages 39-57, March.
    10. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption in Egypt," Working Papers 1002, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    11. Paul Makdissi & Myra Yazbeck, 2023. "Measuring the contribution of stratification and social class at birth to inequality of opportunity," Working Papers 2303E Classification- I31, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    12. Paolo Li Donni & Juan Rodríguez & Pedro Rosa Dias, 2015. "Empirical definition of social types in the analysis of inequality of opportunity: a latent classes approach," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 44(3), pages 673-701, March.
    13. Aaberge, Rolf & Mogstad, Magne & Peragine, Vito, 2011. "Measuring long-term inequality of opportunity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3-4), pages 193-204, April.
    14. Marc Fleurbaey & Vito Peragine, 2013. "Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Equality of Opportunity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(317), pages 118-130, January.
    15. Vito Peragine & Flaviana Palmisano & Paolo Brunori, 2014. "Economic Growth and Equality of Opportunity," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 247-281.
    16. Luis Fernando Gamboa & Erika Londoño, 2015. "Assessing Educational Unfair Inequalities at a Regional Level in Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 83, pages 97-133, Julio - D.
    17. Arnaud Lefranc & Tista Kundu, 2020. "Inequality of Opportunity in Indian Society," Working Papers hal-02539364, HAL.
    18. Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2014. "Economic inequality in the Arab region," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6911, The World Bank.
    19. Shi, X., 2018. "Inequality of Opportunity in Earnings in Rural China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277016, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Paolo Brunori & Flaviana Palmisano & Vitorocco Peragine, 2019. "Inequality of opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(60), pages 6428-6458, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dissimilarity Index; Inequality of Opportunity; Consumption; Tunisia; Public Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:46:y:2021:i:1:p:107-137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sung Y. Park (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eccaukr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.