Family background, academic ability and associated inequality of opportunity in India

Abstract

The paper adds to the existing work on Inequality of Opportunity in India and using data and techniques proposed in earlier studies, estimates inequality of opportunity in academic ability of Indian males. Taking data from India Human Development Survey (2004-05) and mean log deviation as the inequality measure, the overall observed inequality in academic ability has been decomposed into two components. One of which can be associated to family background (inequality of opportunity) of individuals and another one due to all other factors. The paper finds substantial level of inequality of opportunity in academic ability in India, with the figures relatively higher for the urban regions compared to the rural ones.Inequality of Opportunity, Academic Ability, India