Author: | Roemer, J. E. |
Title: | To what extent do fiscal regimes equalize opportunities for income acquisition among citizens? |
Journal: | Journal of Public Economics
2003 : MAR, VOL. 87:3-4, p. 539-566 |
Index terms: | FISCAL POLICY INCOMES MERGERS ECONOMICS |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | This paper employs the theory of equality of opportunity, described in Roemer's book, to compute the extent to which tax-and-transfer regimes in 11 countries equalize opportunities among citizens for income acquisition. Roughly speaking, equality of opportunity for incomes has been achieved in a country when it is the case that the distributions of post-fisc income are the same for different types of citizen, where a citizen's type is define by the socio-economic status of his parents. Intuitively, a country will have equalized opportunity if the chances of earning high (or low) income are equal for citizens from all family backgrounds. The paper states that pre-fisc income distributions, by type, will not be identical. |
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