Global Equality of Opportunity Defended

Abstract

I began this book by citing several cases of extreme inequality of opportunity across the globe. We do well to recall some of this as background for the present discussion. Consider opportunities for longevity: A baby born in Mali in 2001 had an approximately 13 percent chance of dying before reaching the age one, while a baby born in the USA the same year had a less than 1 percent chance of dying.¹ Or consider educational attainment: ‘The average American born between 1975 and 1979 has completed more than 14 years of schooling (roughly the same for men and women, and in urban and rural areas), while the average school attainment for the same cohort in Mali is less than two years, with women’s attainment less than half that for men, and virtually zero in rural areas.’² Finally consider opportunities for income: In 1994 the average income in Mali was less than $2 PPP per day, or $54 per month; in the USA it was more than 20 times greater, $1,185 per month.³