Equality of opportunity and kernel density estimation: An application to intergenerational mobility

When economists talk about equality, they typically have equality of outcom es, like welfare or income in mind. However such a view of equality is not entirely satisfactory and theories of equality of opportunity have been dev eloped and proposed as an alternative. While there has been some theoretica l discussion of equality of opportunity in the public choice literature, th e empirical implementation of many of these issues has been limited. In thi s paper we develop a nonparametric estimator of the opportunity sets facing individuals with different characteristics. This estimator allows us to vi sualize the choices available to individuals of different types. We then us e this estimator to reexamine the intergenerational transmission process. O ur estimates indicate that even for children who exhibit the same degree of responsibility, those from richer families earn substantially more than th ose from poorer families.