Inequality of Opportunity in Egypt

This paper evaluates the contribution of inequality of opportunity to inequality in earnings in Egypt and analyzes its evolution across four age cohorts and over three periods of time. On average, inequality of opportunity is found to account for 30 percent of total earnings inequality. The results reveal important variations of the inequality of opportunity indicators across age cohorts and over time. We find evidence that an important part of earnings inequality in the age cohort between 40 and 49 years old is due to unequal access to opportunities. The findings indicate that despite a small increase in total earnings inequality over time, the share of inequality of opportunities is decreasing. A sharp decline is observed in 2006.