We show that measures of inequality of opportunity (IOP) fully consistent with the IOP theory of Roemer (1998) can be straightforwardly estimated by adopting a machine learning approach, and apply our method to analyze the development of IOP in Germany during the past three decades. Hereby, we...

The shock of the COVID‐19 pandemic affected the human capital formation of children and youths. As a consequence of this disruption, the pandemic is likely to imply permanent lower levels of human capital. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of COVID‐19 and school closures on...

This paper proposes a measure of the contribution of unequal opportunities to earnings inequality. Drawing on the distinction between "circumstance" and "effort" variables in John Roemer's work on equality of opportunity, we associate inequality of opportunities with five observed circumstances...