Social Spending, Distribution, and Equality of Opportunities : Opportunity Incidence Analysis

Cuesta, Jose

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE SERVICES;    AFFORDABLE ACCESS;    BANK DEPOSITS;    BASIC HEALTH CARE;    BASIC SERVICES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6489
RP-ID  :  WPS6489

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Existing evidence forms a body of"conventional wisdom" on the redistributive impactof fiscal policies that has been recently questioned by moredisaggregated analyses. This paper proposes an additionalextension to the traditional benefit incidence analysis toexplore further the extent to which the conventional wisdomholds, as well as to provide effective guidance in fiscaldecision making. The benefit incidence analysis extensionincludes linking fiscal policies with the concept ofequality of opportunities. The paper describes this approachand showcases the application of the proposed"opportunity incidence analysis" to six pilotcountries: Liberia, Cote d Ivoire, Zambia, Tajikistan,Thailand, and Paraguay. Three main contributions stand out:first, opportunity incidence analysis complementstraditional benefit incidence analysis by applying itsmechanics to a more forward looking concept of equalopportunity. Second, opportunities can be used to targetpublic spending with higher precision. Third,micro-simulations can be used to understand thecost-effectiveness of alternative spending interventionsthat seek to improve equality of opportunities. All of theseresults complement the diagnosis produced by traditionalincidence analysis and provide useful information to guidespecific policy decisions.