Equality of Opportunities and FiscalIncidence in Cote d'Ivoire

Abras, Ana ; Cuesta, Jose ; Hoyos, Alejandro ; Narayan, Ambar

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO EDUCATION;    ACCESS TO GOODS;    ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    ACCESS TO PRIMARY EDUCATION;    AGE GROUPS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6048
RP-ID  :  WPS6048

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This study analyzes opportunities forchildren in Cote d'Ivoire, where opportunities refer toaccess to basic services and goods that improve thelikelihood of a child maximizing his or her human potential.The principle that guides this analysis is one of equalityof opportunity, which is that a child's circumstancesat birth should not determine his or her access toopportunities. The analysis computes the Human OpportunityIndex, which measures the extent to which access to basicservices is universal and evenly distributed among childrenof different circumstances. Opportunities are limited inCote d'Ivoire, despite some improvements in access toelectricity and timely access to primary education.Otherwise, trends on access remain stagnant. Scale effects(variations across the board) are behind these trends, withlittle improvement observed from equalizing interventions.Circumstances such as region and household headcharacteristics affect a child's access toopportunities, while household incomes and a child'sgender and ethnicity play a relatively small role in accessdifferentials. Public spending on education opportunities isshown to be regressive and pro-rich, especially whenanalyzed across the distribution of circumstances ratherthan acroos income level.The groups of children that areparticularly behind in terms of educational opportunitiesare those whose household heads lack primary education andreside in rural areas. Closing the enrollment gap of thesechildren should be a priority for targeted educationalinterventions. However, improving opportunities may requiremore than a single type of intervention: opportunities withlow coverage may need to be scaled up, while those withlarge inequalities of access may require equalizing interventions.