Gignoux, JérémieFerreira, Francisco H.G.2012-06-012012-06-012008-07https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6859What part of the inequality observed in a particular country is due to unequal opportunities, rather than to differences in individual efforts or luck? This paper estimates a lower bound for the opportunity share of inequality in labor earnings, household income per capita and household consumption per capita in six Latin American countries. Following John Roemer, the authors associate inequality of opportunity with outcome differences that can be accounted for by morally irrelevant pre-determined circumstances, such as race, gender, place of birth, and family background. Thus defined, unequal opportunities account for between 24 and 50 percent of inequality in consumption expenditure in the sample. Brazil and Central America are more opportunity-unequal than Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru. "Opportunity profiles," which identify the social groups with the most limited opportunity sets, are shown to be distinct from poverty profiles: ethnic origin and the geography of birth are markedly more important as determinants of opportunity deprivation than of outcome poverty, particularly in Brazil, Guatemala, and Peru.CC BY 3.0 IGOAGRICULTURAL WORKERSBETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITYCENTRAL AMERICACENTRAL AMERICANCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURESCONSUMPTION INEQUALITYCOUNTERFACTUALDATA SETDATA SETSDECOMPOSABLE INEQUALITY MEASURESDECOMPOSITION OF INEQUALITYDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDISADVANTAGED GROUPSDISCRIMINATIONDISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONSDISTRIBUTION OF OPPORTUNITIESDISTRIBUTION OF OUTCOMESDISTRIBUTION OF WELFAREEARNINGSEARNINGS INEQUALITYECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC OPPORTUNITYECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC SUCCESSECONOMIC THEORYECONOMIES OF SCALEEDUCATION LEVELSEMPIRICAL ESTIMATESEMPIRICAL LITERATUREEQUAL OPPORTUNITIESEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITYETHNIC GROUPSETHNIC MINORITIESETHNIC MINORITYEXPENDITUREFAMILIESFAMILY INCOMESFINANCIAL MARKETSFUNCTIONAL FORMGENDERGINI COEFFICIENTGROUP INEQUALITIESGROUPS OF PEOPLEHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION PER CAPITAHOUSEHOLD DATAHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD HEADSHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATAHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHOUSEHOLDSINCOME DATAINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME SHAREINCOME SHARESINCOMESINDICES OF INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL COUNTRIESINDIVIDUAL INCOMESINEQUALITYINEQUALITY AVERSIONINEQUALITY AVERSION PARAMETERINEQUALITY DECOMPOSITIONINEQUALITY IN EARNINGSINEQUALITY INDEXINEQUALITY MEASUREINEQUALITY MEASUREMENTINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITIESINEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITYINEQUALITY TRAPSINTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITYINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITYLABOR FORCELABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKETLATIN AMERICANLEVELS OF INEQUALITYMEAN INCOMEMEAN LOG DEVIATIONMEASURE OF INEQUALITYMEASUREMENT ERRORMEASURES OF INEQUALITYMEASURING INEQUALITYMULTIPLE EQUILIBRIANATIONAL SURVEYSOVERALL INEQUALITYPATH DEPENDENCEPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY RESEARCHPOORPOPULATION SHAREPOPULATION SUBGROUPPOSITIVE EFFECTPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY OUTCOMESPOVERTY PROFILEPRIMARY EDUCATIONPUBLIC EDUCATIONPUBLIC EXPENDITURESPUBLIC POLICYRELATIVE IMPORTANCERESIDUAL TERMRURALRURAL AREARURAL AREASSIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCESSOCIAL MOBILITYTAXATIONTOTAL INEQUALITYUNEQUAL ACCESSUNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4659