Regional Dimension Of Inequality Of Opportunity In Russian Federation

Abstract

The paper aims to study assessing inequality of opportunity in Russian regions. The analysis is based on the data from the survey «Statistical Survey of Income and Participation in Social Programs» conducted by the Federal state statistics service of the Russian Federation. The estimation technique is parametric and based on the ex-ante definition of equality of opportunity. The L– Theil index was used as a measure of inequality. According to the results obtained, inequality of labor income slightly tends to decrease in the Russian Federation. The contribution of inequality of opportunities to inequality of labor income in Russia insignificantly varies throughout 2014-2018 (from 24.27% to 27.80%). Inequality of opportunity varies significantly across Russian regions (from 2,8% to 31,65% in 2018). The regional dimension raises a new layer of research issues within the studies on the inequality of opportunity. Space factor can constrain the set of opportunities that people face or, in other words, people with the same personal characteristics, can obtain very different outcomes depending on their region. A high level of regional inequality of opportunity may stimulate an active part of the population to migration, so regional levels of opportunity inequality may be useful to explain interregional migration.