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Equality of opportunity is about leveling the playing field so that circumstances such as gender, ethnicity, place of birth, or family background do not influence a person's life chances. Success in life should depend on people's choices, effort and talents, not to their circumstances at birth. 'Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean' introduces new methods for measuring inequality of opportunities and makes an assessment of its evolution in Latin America over a decade. An innovative Human Opportunity Index and other parametric and non-parametric techniques are presented for quantifying inequality based on circumstances exogenous to individual efforts. These methods are applied to gauge inequality of opportunities in access to basic services for children, learning achievement for youth, and income and consumption for adults.

Available data to depict socioeconomic realities are often scarce at the municipal level. Unlike recurring or continuous data, which are collected regularly or repeatedly, nonrecurrent data may be sporadic or irregular, due to significant costs for their compilation and limited resources at municipalities. To address regional data scarcity, we develop a bottom-up top-down methodology for constructing synthetic socioeconomic indicators combining a genetic algorithm and regression techniques. We apply our methodology for assessing income inequalities at 178 municipalities in Spain. The genetic algorithm draws the available data on circumstances or inequalities of opportunities that give birth to income disparities. Our methodology allows to mitigate the shortcomings arising from unavailable data. Thus, it is a suitable method to assess relevant socioeconomic conditions at a regional level that are currently obscured due to data unavailability. This is crucial to provide policymakers with an enhanced socioeconomic overview at regional administrative units, relevant to allocating public service funds.

ABSTRACT Until recently, the companies’ boards of directors have shown a strong male predominance, while controversial results regarding the insertion of women in these bodies have prevailed. Given this context, this research aimed to investigate the evolution of women’s participation in the boards of directors of Brazilian companies listed on B3 and the position of these directors in the corporate board interlock network, between 1997 and 2015. To understand this phenomenon, the Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodology was adopted and several indicators were. The results indicate that women’s participations have increased top management positions of the Brazilian corporate environment and women have begun to integrate the boards of directors, a scenario still far from the reality observed in developed countries. Nonetheless, by analyzing the members connected in the corporate network, we have concluded that women reach high proximity, since they have a high degree of centrality in the network, but they also lack the potential for intermediation. Such results signal the need to increase gender diversity at the top level of companies, which could raise the quality of debate on boards of directors and improve levels of corporate governance. RESUMEN Los consejos de administración de las empresas presentaban, hasta muy poco tiempo, un fuerte predominio masculino, prevaleciendo resultados controvertidos en cuanto a la inserción de la mujer en estos órganos. En vista de eso, esta investigación tuvo como objetivo investigar la evolución de la participación de las mujeres en los consejos de administración de empresas brasileñas que cotizan en B3 y la posición de estos directores en la red corporativa de board interlocking, entre 1997 y 2015. Para ello, la metodología de Análisis de Redes Sociales (ARS) fue utilizada y se calcularon varios indicadores para comprender este fenómeno. Los resultados indican que las mujeres han aumentado su participación en la alta dirección del ambiente corporativo brasileño y comienzan a integrar los consejos de administración, un escenario aún alejado de la realidad observada en los países desarrollados. A pesar de esto, cuando se analizan los miembros conectados en la red de empresas, es posible concluir que las mujeres alcanzan una alta proximidad, ya que tienen un alto grado de centralidad en la red, pero sin potencial de intermediación. Tales resultados señalan la necesidad de aumentar la diversidad de género en el nivel superior de las empresas, lo que podría elevar la calidad del debate en consejos y mejorar los niveles de gobernanza corporativa. RESUMO Até bem recentemente, os conselhos de administração das empresas apresentavam forte predominância masculina, imperando resultados controversos quanto à inserção das mulheres nesses órgãos. Em face disso, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar a evolução da participação feminina nos conselhos de administração das empresas brasileiras listadas na B3 e a posição dessas conselheiras na rede corporativa de board interlocking, entre 1997 e 2015. Para entender esse fenômeno, foi adotada a metodologia Análise de Redes Sociais (ARS) e diversos indicadores foram calculados. Os resultados indicam que as mulheres aumentaram sua participação na alta administração do ambiente corporativo brasileiro e começam a integrar os conselhos de administração, cenário ainda distante da realidade observada em países desenvolvidos. No entanto, quando foram analisados os membros conectados na rede corporativa, concluímos que as mulheres alcançam alta proximidade, uma vez que têm alto grau de centralidade na rede, mas também carecem de potencial de intermediação. Tais resultados sinalizam a necessidade de aumentar a diversidade de gênero no alto escalão das empresas, o que poderia elevar a qualidade do debate nos conselhos de administração e melhorar os níveis de governança corporativa.

In December 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about a new coronavirus disease that would come to be called Covid-19. The world media began reporting on this new virus and its consequences. However, reports about Covid-19 would not appear in the European and American media until their societies became aware of both the health and economic consequences of Covid-19 in March 2020. This article analyzes the online media coverage of economic inequality. The goal is to understand the formation of the public agenda, based on the impact of the disease on social classes as the main factor generating greater inequality levels, in particular inequality of opportunities as the most remarkable topic during the first stage of the pandemic. According to the first results of this content analysis, the social class divide will be deepened by the pandemic. For this study, a tool was designed to analyze both the manifest and latent content of the items. Using content analysis, an analysis of news published by 33 digital media in both Europe and Latin America from March 14 to April 14, 2020 was conducted. The results of this study show that income inequality appears as the core variable of the problem, although social classes remain important. The imbalanced access to health and education public services also receives continuous coverage in the media. However, poverty as a consequence of this situation remains an uncomfortable issue and tends to be presented in an undramatized way.

The present study investigates the Swiss population’s perceptions of education. The results show that education is rated as very important. While functional and value-rational ideas about education are diferentiated in terms of social structure, there are no diferences related to origin and education for traditional ideas about education. Regardless of actual educational opportunities, disregarding gender and cohort diferences, approval of equal opportunities in the education system is high in all social groups.

This paper tries to quantify the extent of inequality of opportunity between Tunisian active populations when a number of labor market outcomes are affected by circumstances beyond individuals “control. Using recent Tunisian Labor Market Panel Survey, we firstly assess origins of differences in the occupation rate then we distinguish between formal and informal jobs finally we apply the parametric approach to explain dissimilarity in household wages. The Circumstances explain more than 22% of wage inequality and “household wealth”’ is the most contributive variable explaining inequality. The Tunisian labor market suffers from inequalities that are passed down from generation to generation. Without appropriate public policy intervention reducing corruption and cronyism, it will be bad repercussion in the political and social stability in Tunisia.

Early childhood education is widely considered as the most important indicator of human capital, and it is powerfully related to economic development. In this paper, we try to study the extent of inequality of opportunity when a number of circumstances beyond individual’s control, such as family background, gender, and place of birth, can affect the access to basic education among Tunisian children. Using recent data for different periods, we calculate the dissimilarity index (D-index) for the basic education. Inequality gap has been detected between regions in 2018 and tends to increase over time since 2010. Residence area, father’s education, and child’s sex are the most contributing variables to access education inequality. Without policy intervention, there are a few chances for the next generation to overcome this trap of inequality.

Until very recently, the companies’ boards of directors have shown a strong male predominance, while controversial results regarding the insertion of womenin these bodies have prevailed. Given this, this research aimed to investigate the evolution of women’s participation in the boards of directors of Braziliancompanies listed on B3 and the position of these directors in the corporate board interlock network, between 1997 and 2015. To understand this phenomenon, the Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodology was adopted and several indicators were. The results indicate that women’s participations has increased top management positions of the Brazilian corporate environment and women have begun n to integrate the boards of directors, a scenario still far from the reality observed in developed countries. Nonetheless, by analyzing the corporate network connector , we have concluded that women reach high proximity, since they have a high degree of centrality in the network, but they also lack the potential for intermediation. Such results signal the need to increase gender diversity at the top level of companies, which could raise the quality of debate on boards of directors and improve levels of corporate governance. Até bem recentemente, os conselhos de administração das empresas apresentavam forte predominância masculina, imperando resultados controversos quanto à inserção das mulheres nesses órgãos. Em face disso, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar a evolução da participação feminina nos conselhos de administração das empresas brasileiras listadas na B3 e a posição dessas conselheiras na rede corporativa de board interlocking, entre 1997 e 2015. Para entender esse fenômeno, foi adotada ametodologia Análise de Redes Sociais (ARS) e diversos indicadores foram calculados. Os resultados indicam que as mulheres aumentaram sua participação na alta administração do ambiente corporativo brasileiro e começam a integrar os conselhos de administração, cenário ainda distante da realidade observada em países desenvolvidos. No entanto, quando foram analisadosos membros conectados na rede corporativa, concluímos que as mulheres alcançam alta proximidade, uma vez que têm alto grau de centralidade na rede, mas também carecem de potencial de intermediação. Tais resultados sinalizam a necessidade de aumentar a diversidade de gênero no alto escalão das empresas, o que poderia elevar a qualidade do debate nos conselhos de administração e melhorar os níveis de governança corporativa. Los consejos de administración de las empresas presentaban, hasta muy poco tiempo, un fuerte predominio masculino, prevaleciendo resultados controvertidos en cuanto a la inserción de la mujer en estos órganos. En vista de eso, estainvestigación tuvo como objetivo investigar la evolución de la participación de las mujeres en los consejos de administración de empresas brasileñas que cotizanen B3 y la posición de estos directores en la red corporativa de board interlocking, entre 1997 y 2015. Para ello, la metodología de Análisis de Redes Sociales (ARS)fue utilizada y se calcularon varios indicadores para comprender este fenómeno. Los resultados indican que las mujeres han aumentado su participación en laalta dirección del ambiente corporativo brasileño y comienzan a integrar los consejos de administración, un escenario aún alejado de la realidad observadaen los países desarrollados. A pesar de esto, cuando se analizan los miembros conectados en la red de empresas, es posible concluir que las mujeres alcanzan una alta proximidad, ya que tienen un alto grado de centralidad en la red, pero sin potencial de intermediación. Tales resultados señalan la necesidad de aumentar la diversidad de género en el nivel superior de las empresas, lo que podría elevar la calidad del debate en consejos y mejorar los niveles de gobernanza corporativa.

Background The literature on Inequality of opportunity (IOp) in health distinguishes between  circumstances  that lie outside of own control vs . efforts  that – to varying extents – are within one’s control. From the perspective of IOp, this paper aims to explain variations in individuals’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) by focusing on two separate sets of variables that clearly lie outside of own control: Parents’ health is measured by their experience of somatic diseases, psychological problems and any substance abuse, while parents’ wealth is indicated by childhood financial conditions (CFC). We further include own educational attainment which may represent a circumstance, or an effort, and examine associations of IOp for different health outcomes. HRQoL are measured by EQ-5D-5L utility scores, as well as the probability of reporting limitations on specific HRQoL-dimensions (mobility, self-care, usual-activities, pain & discomfort, and anxiety and depression). Method We use unique survey data ( N  = 20,150) from the egalitarian country of Norway to investigate if differences in circumstances produce unfair inequalities in health. We estimate cross-sectional regression models which include age and sex as covariates. We estimate two model specifications. The first represents a narrow IOp by estimating the contributions of parents’ health and wealth on HRQoL, while the second includes own education and thus represents a broader IOp, alternatively it provides a comparison of the relative contributions of an effort variable and the two sets of circumstance variables. Results We find strong associations between the circumstance variables and HRQoL. A more detailed examination showed particularly strong associations between parental psychological problems and respondents’ anxiety and depression. Our Shapley decomposition analysis suggests that parents’ health and wealth are each as important as own educational attainment for explaining inequalities in adult HRQoL. Conclusion We provide evidence for the presence of the lasting effect of early life circumstances on adult health that persists even in one of the most egalitarian countries in the world. This suggests that there may be an upper limit to how much a generous welfare state can contribute to equal opportunities.

This paper attempts to estimate inequality of opportunities in Punjab, Pakistan by using non-parametric approach. Household level data of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014 has been analyzed for this purpose. Household head's income has been taken as an outcome. Three parental characteristics of household head have been used as circumstances. These characteristics include region of residence (rural/urban), wealth status and education level of household head's father. Equalization of circumstances has been done by dividing our sample into different groups on the basis of above mentioned circumstances. Then within-group and among-groups inequality of income has been calculated. Within-group inequality has been attributed to the differences in the efforts of household heads. Among-group inequality has been attributed to the difference of circumstances and has been termed as inequality of opportunities. Our results indicate that up to 28% variation in income is due to the differences of circumstances. Among different circumstances, father's education has the most significant contribution in explaining the variation of income of household heads. The study highlights the significance and need of compensatory government policies to cope with the problem of inequality of opportunities in Punjab (Pakistan). Provision of equal access to educational opportunities for all segments of the society is recommended as an important public policy measure to mitigate inequality of opportunities.