The Roots of Inequality Estimating Inequality of Opportunity from Regression Trees

This paper proposes a set of new methods to estimate inequality of opportunity based on conditional inference regression trees. It illustrates how these methods represent a substantial improvement over existing empirical approaches to measure inequality of opportunity. First, the new methods minimiz...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brunori, Paolo
Other Authors: Mahler, Daniel Gerszon, Hufe, Paul
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2018
Series:World Bank E-Library Archive
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:This paper proposes a set of new methods to estimate inequality of opportunity based on conditional inference regression trees. It illustrates how these methods represent a substantial improvement over existing empirical approaches to measure inequality of opportunity. First, the new methods minimize the risk of arbitrary and ad hoc model selection. Second, they provide a standardized way to trade off upward and downward biases in inequality of opportunity estimations. Finally, regression trees can be graphically represented; their structure is immediate to read and easy to understand. This will make the measurement of inequality of opportunity more easily comprehensible to a large audience. These advantages are illustrated by an empirical application based on the 2011 wave of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions
Physical Description:35 pages