Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

Panel Discussion
education, health, wealth, power and input into the decision making
process is very much a function of where you are born and who are your
parents.
In looking at inequalities within countries the case of Brazil provides
an illustration which sheds some light on the roots of inequality. One
quarter of the inequalities in incomes in Brazil in 1996 was found to be
determined by factors completely out of control of the individual: race,
region of birth, parental education and paternal occupation at birth.
While we do not have a quantifiable measure of their impact, we can
argue that gender, family wealth and the quality of primary schools, all
factors out of control of the individual, are also important determinants
of power and wealth. 2
Compared to inequalities within countries, inequalities across
countries are massive. Cross country differences begin with the
opportunity for life itself: while 7 of every 1,000 American babies die in
the first year of their lives, 126 of every 1,000 Malian babies do. Babies
who survive, not only in Mali but in much of Africa and in the poorer
countries of Asia and Latin America, are at much greater nutritional risk
than their counterparts in rich countries. And if they go to school—more
than 400 million adults in developing countries never did—their schools
are substantially worse than those attended by children in Europe, Japan,
or the United States. Given lower school quality, under nutrition, and
the earnings a child can generate by working instead of studying, many
children leave school early. The average person born between 1975 and
1979 in Sub-Saharan Africa has only 5.4 years of schooling. In South
Asia, the figure rises to 6.3 years; in OECD countries, it is 13.4 years.
Opportunities for the consumption of private goods differ vastly between
rich and poor countries. While the average Nigerian may find it difficult
to afford adequately nutritious meals every day, the average citizen of
Luxembourg need not worry too much about buying the latest
generation cell phone on the market. 3
2 World Development Report 2006
3 Ibid
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