Equality of Opportunity: Theory and Measurement
2016/12/01 by John E. Roemer, Alain Trannoy · 390 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Compensation (psychology) #Computer science #Distributive justice #Distributive property #Economic Justice #Economics #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Income, Poverty, and Inequality #Inequality #Law #Law and economics #Mathematics #Measure (data warehouse) #Neoclassical economics #Per capita #Political Philosophy and Ethics #Political science #Politics #Positive economics #Psychology #Public economics #Section (typography) #Social psychology #Sociology #Utilitarianism
paper · open access · doi:10.1257/jel.20151206
published in Journal of Economic Literature 54(4), 1288-1332 (American Economic Association)
openalex publication_date 2016/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Abstract
During the last third of the twentieth century, political philosophers actively debated about the content of distributive justice; the ruling ethical view of utilitarianism was challenged by various versions of equality of opportunities. Economists formulated several ways of modeling these ideas, focusing upon how individuals are placed with respect to opportunities for achieving various outcomes, and what compensation is due to individuals with truncated opportunities. After presenting a review of the main philosophical ideas (section 2), we turn to economic models (sections 3 and 4). We propose a reformulation of the definition of economic development, replacing the utilitarian measure of GDP per capita with a measure of the degree to which opportunities for income acquisition in a nation have been equalized. Finally, we discuss issues that the econometrician faces in measuring inequality of opportunity, briefly review the empirical literature (section 6), and conclude (section 7). (JEL C43, D63, D70, I24)
Citations
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