LAC of Opportunity

In his blog post below, Nate mentions the stark contrast in life expectancy rates between the developed and developing world. It reminded me of something I read recently in Duncan Green’s book From Poverty to Power. Green writes:

“From cradle to grave, a person’s life chances are dominated by the extraordinary levels of inequality that characterize the modern world. A girl born in Norway will almost certainly live to old age. If she is born in Sierra Leone, however, she has a one in four chance of dying before her fifth birthday. A Norwegian girl can expect to go to a good school, followed by university, and to be healthy and cared for right through old age. In Sierra Leone only two in three girls start school at all, and many more drop out along the way…Only one in four women is able to read and write. University is an impossible dream.”

The circumstances we’re born into usually influence our entire lives. A lot of the stuff we take for granted growing up plays a crucial role in shaping our lives, our ability to earn a living, and ultimately, our countries’ economic situations. And people who have fewer opportunities during childhood face more difficulties later on in life too.

It’s unfair and frustrating, because these circumstances are beyond a person’s control or responsibility.

A recent study measures the economic and social impact of personal circumstances. The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), one of the most unequal regions in the world, where 40% of the total income goes to the richest 10% of the population, and a mere 1% goes to the poorest 10%. The index shows that factors such as race, gender, birthplace, parent’s educational level and father’s occupation determine things like a child’s access to running water, sanitation, electricity, basic education and other services that are essential for a productive life. In LAC, between one-fourth and half of the income inequality observed among adults stems from the personal circumstances they faced during childhood.

What’s important about this project is that it’s paved the way for a whole new field of study, for designing public policy from an equity viewpoint. The idea is to help governments make fairer budget allocations, generating better opportunities for everyone.