Opportunity Inequality and its Effects on Economic Growth and Per Capita GDP

Opportunity inequality and its relationship with economic growth is a concept to which not enough attention has been paid in the previous studies. This study attempts to investigate the effects of opportunity inequality index on economic growth in 15 developing and 15 developed countries over the years 1995-2015. Accordingly, the mean group (MG) estimator within the framework of panel data was used and a new index for opportunity inequality was created. Furthermore, the effects of opportunity inequality and its sub-indices on per capita GDP were compared with the results of the model when economic growth was a dependent variable. The results showed that inequality of opportunities and its sub-indices on economic growth and per capita GDP had different effects in the developed and developing countries.