1. 2012 World Bank Conference on Equity, June 27‐28, 2012
Day 1: Wednesday June 27th
8:30-9:30 Registration and Breakfast
9:30-9:45 Opening Remarks: Mahmoud Mohieldin, Managing Director, The World Bank
9:45-10:45 Keynote Address 1: James Foster (George Washington University)
Chair: Benu Bidani (The World Bank)
10:45-11:00 Coffee
11:00-12:45
Parallel Session 1: Inequality at an Early
Age
Esteban Puentes (University of Chile)
“Inequality of opportunities at early age.
Evidence from Chile”
Florencia Lopez Boo (Inter-American
Development Bank)
“Gradients in socioeconomic status and
early childhood cognitive skills: Is Latin
America different?”
Florian Wendelspiess Chavez (University
of Geneva)
“Intergenerational transmission of education
– uncovering the mechanisms behind high
intergenerational correlations”
Chair: Gabriela Inchauste (The World
Bank)
Parallel Session 2: Linking Opportunities
with Outcomes
Ezequiel Molina (Princeton University)
“Opportunity and development: assessing the
effect of equality of opportunities in
development outcomes”
Alexandru Cojocaru (The World Bank)
“Prospects of upward mobility, inequality of
opportunity and preferences for redistribution in
transition economies”
Ana Abras (The World Bank)
“Inequality of opportunities in the labor market:
evidence from Life in Transition surveys in
Europe and Central Asia”
Flaviana Palmisano (University of Bari)
"Pro-poor growth: a characterization"
Chair: Carolina Sanchez-Paramo (The World
Bank)
12:45-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:00
Plenary Session 1: Measuring Equality of Opportunity: Implications for Development
Vito Peragine (University of Bari)
“Economic growth and equality of opportunity”
Dirk van de Gaer (University of Ghent)
“Children’s health opportunities and project evaluation: Mexico’s Oportunidades program”
Jeremie Gignoux (Paris School of Economics)
“Educational achievement and opportunity inequality in Egypt”
Chair: Pedro Olinto (The World Bank)

2. 3:00-3:15 Coffee
3:15-4:45
Plenary Session 2: Equality of what? A conversation between philosophers and
economists
Panelists:
James Foster (George Washington University)
Derrick Darby (University of Kansas)
Jorn Sonderholm (George Washington University)
Dirk van de Gaer (University of Ghent)
Chair: Francisco Ferreira (The World Bank)

3. Day 2: Thursday June 28th
9:00-9:30 Breakfast
9:30:0-11:00
Parallel Session 3: Opportunity, Poverty
Measurement and Mobility
Patrizio Piraino (University of Cape Town)
“Inequality of opportunity and
intergenerational mobility in South Africa”
Paolo Brunori (University of Bari)
“Opportunity-sensitive poverty
measurement”
Gaston Yalonetzky (Leeds University)
" Three meanings of intergenerational
mobility: a follow-up with an application to
educational mobility in Mexico"
Chair: Ambar Narayan (The World Bank)
Parallel Session 4: Justice, Fairness and the
Perception of Inequality
Annika Mueller (Harvard University)
"Roles of redistributive justice in rural Malawi"
Umar Serajuddin (World Bank)
"Who is deprived? Who feels deprived? Labor
Deprivation, Youth and Gender in Morocco"
Paolo Verme (World Bank)
"Inside inequality in Egypt: facts and
perceptions in light of a social revolution"
Chair: C. Malmberg Calvo (The World Bank)
11:00-11:15 Coffee
11:15-12:45 Plenary Session 3: Inequality: Facts, Perceptions and Public Policy
Heba El-Laithy (Cairo University)
Augustin Fosu (UN University-WIDER and University of Ghana)
Dante Contreras (University of Chile)
Chair: Jaime Saavedra (The World Bank)
12:45-2:00 Lunch
2:00-3:00 Keynote Address 2: John Roemer (Yale University) "Dynamic equality of opportunity"
Chair: Jose R. Molinas Vega (The World Bank)
3:00-3:30 Closing Remarks: Otaviano Canuto (The World Bank)