Layers of inequality: Unequal opportunities and skin colour in Mexico

Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis and Vélez-Grajales, Roberto and Yalonetzky, Gastón (2021): Layers of inequality: Unequal opportunities and skin colour in Mexico.

Abstract

We document the contribution of skin colour toward quantifying inequality of opportunity over a proxy indicator of wealth. Our Ferreira-Gignoux estimates of inequality of opportunity as a share of total wealth inequality show that once parental wealth is included as a circumstance variable, the share of inequality of opportunity rises above 40 per cent, overall and for every age cohort. By contrast, the contribution of skin tone to total inequality of opportunity remains minor throughout.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Inequality of opportunity, wealth index, ethnicity, Mexico.
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D30 - General; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants ; Non-labor Discrimination; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O54 - Latin America ; Caribbean

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