Vélez Grajales, R, Monroy-Gómez-Franco, LA and Yalonetzky, G orcid.org/0000-0003-2438-0223 (2019) Inequality of Opportunity in Mexico. Journal of Income Distribution, 27 (3-4). ISSN 0926-6437
Abstract
Mexico is a country with high levels of inequality and low intergenerational social-mobility rates for those located at the bottom extremes of the wealth distribution. Although such low rates suggest that at least a share of the observed income inequality may be due to an unequal distribution of opportunities, this conjecture has not been thoroughly tested in the literature. The present article fills this gap estimating the lower bound of the contribution of unequal opportunities to income and wealth inequality in Mexico, with an operationalization of the “ex-ante” approach to the measurement of inequality of opportunity. Relying on a national representative survey designed for the analysis of social mobility, namely, the ESRU Survey on Social Mobility in Mexico (2011), we are able to define a broad set of circumstance groups (“types”), encompassing the wealth of the household of origin. This available information reduces the omitted variable bias of previous estimations and allows for a better account of the role of inequality of opportunity in income inequality. Our results show that the lower bound of the contribution of unequal opportunities to total income inequality and total wealth inequality is around 30 per cent, which is substantially higher than previous estimations for Mexico and ranks among the highest values in Latin America.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Economics Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Sep 2018 12:54 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jul 2019 14:17 |
Published Version: | https://jid.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jid/issue/... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Ad Libros Publications Inc. |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:135665 |