This forthcoming chapter in the Handbook of Income Distribution (eds., A. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon) summarizes the literature on equality of opportunity. We begin by reviewing the philosophical debate concerning equality since Rawls (sections 1 and 2), present economic algorithms for...

Many studies have estimated the effect of circumstances on income acquisition. Perhaps surprisingly, the fraction of inequality attributable to circumstances is usually quite small - in the advanced democracies, on the order of 20%. One reason for this is the lack of data on circumstance...

The modern formulation of equality of opportunity emerges from discussions in political philosophy from the second half of the twentieth century beginning with Rawls (1971) and Dworkin (1981a,b) . Equality of opportunity exists when policies compensate individuals with disadvantageous...

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Circumstances, Types, and Autonomous Choice -- 3 Justifying the Proposal -- 4 A Formal Definition of Equality of Opportunity -- 5 Incentive Properties of the EOp Mechanism -- 6 Equality of Opportunity with Production -- 7 Equality of...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Circumstances, Types, and Autonomous Choice -- 3 Justifying the Proposal -- 4 A Formal Definition of Equality of Opportunity -- 5 Incentive Properties of the EOp Mechanism -- 6 Equality of Opportunity with Production -- 7 Equality of...

The justification of using GNP per capita as a measure of economic development is utilitarian ethics plus an assumption that no needs are more urgent than others. Here, we advocate a measure of economic development based on the degree to which the society in question has equalized opportunities...