Layers of Inequality: Unequal Opportunities and Skin Color in Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110441
Author(s):  
Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco ◽  
Roberto Vélez-Grajales ◽  
Gastón Yalonetzky
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Parental Wealth ◽  
Unequal Opportunities ◽  
Total Inequality ◽  
Total Wealth ◽  
A Share

We document the contribution of skin color toward quantifying inequality of opportunity over a proxy indicator of wealth. Our Ferreira–Gignoux estimates of inequality of opportunity as a share of total wealth inequality show that once parental wealth is included as a circumstance variable, the share of inequality of opportunity rises above 40%, overall and for every age cohort. By contrast, the contribution of skin tone to total inequality of opportunity remains minor throughout.

Inequality of Opportunity in Mexico

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-158
Author(s):  
Roberto Vélez Grajales ◽  
Luis A. Monroy-Gómez-Franco ◽  
Gastón Yalonetzky
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Lower Bound ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Variable Bias ◽  
Unequal Opportunities ◽  
Available Information

Mexico is a country with high levels of inequality and low intergenerational social-mobility rates for those located at the bottom extremes of the wealth distribution. Although such low rates suggest that at least a share of the observed income inequality may be due to an unequal distribution of opportunities, this conjecture has not been thoroughly tested in the literature. The present article fills this gap estimating the lower bound of the contribution of unequal opportunities to income and wealth inequality in Mexico, with an operationalization of the “ex-ante” approach to the measurement of inequality of opportunity. Relying on a national representative survey designed for the analysis of social mobility, namely, the ESRU Survey on Social Mobility in Mexico (2011), we are able to define a broad set of circumstance groups (“types”), encompassing the wealth of the household of origin. This available information reduces the omitted variable bias of previous estimations and allows for a better account of the role of inequality of opportunity in income inequality. Our results show that the lower bound of the contribution of unequal opportunities to total income inequality and total wealth inequality is around 30 per cent, which is substantially higher than previous estimations for Mexico and ranks among the highest values in Latin America.

scholarly journals Financial and Total Wealth Inequality with Declining Interest Rates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Greenwald ◽  
Matteo Leombroni ◽  
Hanno Lustig ◽  
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Total Wealth

Egg Donation and Exotic Beauty

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Deomampo
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Egg Donation ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Indian Women ◽  
Egg Donor ◽  
Egg Donors ◽  
Donor Egg ◽  
Biological Race ◽  
Racial Hierarchies

Chapter 3 analyzes constructions of skin color and race in intended parents’ narratives about the experience of selecting an egg donor. This chapter shows how egg donors of different backgrounds are differently valued, bolstering social hierarchies. At the same time, the chapter describes the diversity of ways that intended parents approach race and skin tone when choosing an egg donor. In contrast to dominant assumptions that intended parents seek donors who match their own ethnic backgrounds in order to reproduce whiteness, the process of egg donation represented an opportunity for many intended parents to subvert racial hierarchies by selecting Indian donors with darker skin tones. The chapter argues that such narratives, however, misrecognize donor egg selection as an opening to challenge racial hierarchies; instead, such decisions rely on essentialized notions of race and beauty that exoticize Indian women and reflect new articulations of biological race.

Is Only Fair Lovely in Indian Politics? Consequences of Skin Color in a Survey Experiment in Delhi

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Ahuja ◽  
Susan L. Ostermann ◽  
Aashish Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Dark Skin ◽  
Color Preferences ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Significance Levels

AbstractAdoration for fair skin color and bias against dark skin color are strong in Indian society. The theory of colorism suggests that, irrespective of a voter’s own phenotype, voters prefer lighter- to darker-skinned candidates. And yet, a substantial number of dark-skinned politicians get elected into office in India. In the first systematic study of voter preferences for candidate skin color in India, we conducted a survey experiment in which respondents were randomly administered one of three treatments based upon candidate skin tone: fair, wheatish (medium-brown), and dark. We find only weak evidence for colorism in the sample as a whole—the fair candidate is supported more than the dark and wheatish candidates, but at only marginal significance levels. This is because color preferences are heterogeneous amongst respondent groups. Dalits and the poor, groups that are darker relative to other groups and have been politically mobilized, exhibit much stronger support for dark candidates than other groups, consistent with a desire for descriptive representation. Amongst those who do not belong to these two groups, including dark respondents, the fair candidate finds more support than the dark candidate. This shows that even in the absence of skin color-based electoral appeals, skin color can emerge as an implicit marker of politically mobilized identities, and that this mobilization can undercut colorism.

scholarly journals Wealth Transfers and Net Wealth at Death: Evidence from the Italian Inheritance Tax Records 1995–2016

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Acciari ◽  
Salvatore Morelli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Inequality ◽  
National Income ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Inheritance Tax ◽  
Substantial Rise ◽  
Total Wealth ◽  
A Share

In this paper we describe a novel source of data on the full record of inheritance tax files in Italy, covering up to 63% of total deceased. The work documents a substantial rise in the total value of inheritance and gifts as a share of national income, from 8.4% in 1995 to 15.1% in 2016. Consistent with the increasing role of total personal net wealth in the economy, the weight of inheritance and gifts in Italy appears relatively high by international standards. Over the same period, total wealth left at death has also become increasingly concentrated. The estates valued at least €1 million were worth 18.7% of total estate in the mid 1990s and 24.8% in 2016. This paper also documents that revenues collected from the inheritance tax underwent a threefold decline from 0.15% to 0.05% of total tax revenue between 1995 and 2016. Data also allow a disaggregated analysis by demographic and geographic characteristics. Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

scholarly journals Income Inequality and Tax Tools to Reduce it in the South-East Asian Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1(50)) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
Anna P. Muranova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Inequality Problem ◽  
The World

Since the end of the twentieth century. In most countries of the world, there is an increase in economic inequality in its various forms - income inequality, wealth inequality and inequality of opportunity. This article examines aspects of the inequality problem in Southeast Asia, such as income inequality at the intercountry and intracountry levels and the fiscal instruments used by governments to reduce inequality.

scholarly journals It’s not just how the game is played, it’s whether you win or lose

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. eaau1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario D. Molina ◽  
Mauricio Bucca ◽  
Michael W. Macy
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Affective Responses ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Public Beliefs ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Unequal Opportunities

Growing disparities of income and wealth have prompted extensive survey research to measure the effects on public beliefs about the causes and fairness of economic inequality. However, observational data confound responses to unequal outcomes with highly correlated inequality of opportunity. This study uses a novel experiment to disentangle the effects of unequal outcomes and unequal opportunities on cognitive, normative, and affective responses. Participants were randomly assigned to positions with unequal opportunities for success. Results showed that both winners and losers were less likely to view the outcomes as fair or attributable to skill as the level of redistribution increased, but this effect of redistribution was stronger for winners. Moreover, winners were generally more likely to believe that the game was fair, even when the playing field was most heavily tilted in their favor. In short, it’s not just how the game is played, it’s also whether you win or lose.

Race, Skin Tone, and Wealth Inequality in America

Color Struck ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Cedric Herring ◽  
Anthony Hynes
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Skin Tone

My Skin Color Is Not Mi Pecado

2021 ◽  
pp. 156-168
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Dark Skin

This chapter revealed itself as the title of the author's dissertation because of the binary mentality that thrives throughout our country and in our personal experience. On the author's first days after arriving in the United States, she was asked where she had her tanning done. She had never heard such a thing while she was growing up in Mexico nor did she think that she had dark skin because she had always considered herself Blanca/White. It did not mean that during her early twenties she could not see color, just that appearances did not matter as much as the treatment toward her. She was raised by those whose skin color also caused them to be labeled here in the United States as Moreno/Black. The ones who raised her were a Mexican medical pastor and a Güera/White Mexican, nurse, and housewife, and they referred to her, their precious youngster, simply as Brown or—as she likes to call her skin tone—café con leche/milk with coffee. The participants in the study also related that they have faced microaggressions and—in some instances—their professional tenure was in jeopardy.

New approach to the evaluation of skin color of pigmentary lesions using Skin Tone Color Scale

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 441-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natsuko KONISHI ◽  
Akira KAWADA ◽  
Yoshinobu MORIMOTO ◽  
Asami WATAKE ◽  
Hiromasa MATSUDA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Skin Tone ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Color Scale ◽  
Tone Color
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