Inequality of Opportunity in Life: A Conceptual Framework

Ashish Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

This paper develops a framework/method to measure/estimate inequality of life opportunity. Inequality of life opportunity in a society can be defined as that part of total inequality in length of lives lived by individuals which can be attributed to factors beyond the control (circumstances) of individuals for which they cannot be held responsible. The paper uses an analytical parametric framework and multivariate regression approach to estimate Inequality of Life Opportunity. Though there is an extensive scholarship across the world on health inequalities in various outcomes and aspects of health and healthy living, the fundamental question – whether the length of life individuals live should be determined by circumstances beyond the control of individuals (for which they cannot be held accountable) or by choices (and decisions) made by individuals for which they can be held accountable – has rarely been asked. In the present paper, we ask this question and present a theoretical framework along with an analytical strategy to estimate Inequality of Life Opportunity. This study is perhaps the first to – introduce the notion of Inequality of Life Opportunity; and present a theoretical framework and analytical strategy for the same.

Keywords: Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Data and Methods

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