May 5-6 2011, Università La Sapienza, Roma

Call for papers

It is widely agreed that equality of opportunity should be a qualifying objective of social policy. Yet, several obstacles make it difficult to actually adopt policies based on equality of opportunity.
The concept can be specified in several ways; it cannot be easily measured and there are several problems in identifying policies to promote it. Leaving aside the question of the different specifications of equality of opportunity, this call invites to submit papers on the problems related to measurement and to the implications for public policy. More in detail, submitted papers should
address at least one of the following questions:

a) with respect to measurement:
• How to measure the freedom/responsibility elements of opportunity?
• How to take into account adaptive preferences?
• How to measure the object of opportunity element: the "what" opportunities are for?
• How to deal with multi-dimensionality: how to compare and to order different sets of opportunities?

b) with respect to public policy,
• education and training are two uncontroversial policies for equality of opportunity. Yet, should we favour early education and, in this case, of what kind? Should we favour tracking or comprehensive education?
• Should we render public education compulsory, and, if so, what appear to be the best arrangements?
• How to improve training for disadvantaged youth?
• What could be the role of other policies such as equality in income and wealth, inheritance taxation and restructuring of the overall fabric of the socio-economic environment, from labor market and family arrangements to the urban/housing environment?
• In each case, what is the best policy design in order to advance equality of opportunity? Innovative work, able to combine theoretical questions and empirical data, will be favoured.

Invited speakers

Among the invited speakers, have already confirmed their participation J. Roemer, I. Carter, D. Checchi, M. Jannti, V. Peragine.

Deadline

Deadline for abstracts (max. 250 words) is January 15 2011. The selection will be made by January 24. Final papers should be provided by April 15.

Abstracts and papers should be sent to
maurizio.franzini@uniroma1.it
and to
egranaglia@uniroma3.it

Please check the workshop's official web site for updates and further details.