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Equality of Opportunity: A progress report

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  • Alain Trannoy

    (EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales, GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to offer a non-technical selective survey for a general audience about how economists have progressively handled the concept of equality of opportunity. The key idea is that equality of opportunity not only deals with ex-ante inequalities, something that the name already suggests, but also with ex-post inequalities which makes the analysis quite different from that of the capability approach. The article is structured in three parts. First, we review the main theoretical issues about inequality of opportunity. We then follow by looking at the measurement issues and by presenting some empirical results. We finally provide an overview about the challenges faced by policies aiming at enhancing equality of opportunity.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Trannoy, 2016. "Equality of Opportunity: A progress report," Post-Print hal-01448231, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01448231
    DOI: 10.3917/redp.265.0621
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Compensation; ex-ante; ex-post; inégalité des chances; inégalités; politique publiques; récompense naturelle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations

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