1. 1. To what extent have issues of vertical and horizontal equity been addressed since your
country attained its independence.
Equity
Equity is based on the idea of moral equality.[2] Equity looks at the distribution of capital, goods
and access to services throughout an economy and is often measured using tools such as the Gini
index. Equity may be distinguished from economic efficiency in overall evaluation of social
welfare. Although 'equity' has broader uses, it may be posed as a counterpart to economic
inequality in yielding a "good" distribution of wealth. It has been studied in experimental
economics as inequity aversion. Low levels of equity are associated with life chances based on
inherited wealth, social exclusion and the resulting poor access to basic services and
intergenerational poverty resulting in a negative effect on growth, financial instability, crime and
increasing political instability.[2]
The state often plays a central role in the necessary redistribution required for equity between all
citizens, but applying this in practise is highly complex and involves contentious choices.
However, considerable consensus can often be found on three particular issues:[2]
Equal life chances: life outcomes should be determined by individual choices and not
conditions beyond an individual's control.
Equal concern for people’s needs: those goods and services understood as necessities should
be distributed to those otherwise unable to access them.
Meritocracy: positions in society and rewards should reflect differences in effort and ability,
based on fair competition.
Horizontal equity implies that we give the same treatment to people in an identical situation.
Vertical Equity: Implies that people with higher incomes should pay more tax.
References
References
 Anthony B. Atkinson and Joseph E. Stiglitz (1980). Lectures in Public Economics,
McGraw-Hill. Economics Handbook Series.

2.  Xavier Calsamiglia and Alan Kirman (1993). "A Unique Informationally Efficient and
Decentralized Mechanism with Fair Outcomes," Econometrica, 61(5), p p. 1147-1172.
 A.J. Culyer (1995). "Need: The Idea Won't Do — But We Still Need It," Social Science
and Medicine, 40(6), pp. 727–730.
 Jean-Yves Duclos (2008). "horizontal and vertical equity," The New Palgrave Dictionary
of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract.
 Allan M. Feldman (1987). "equity," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 2,
pp. 182–84.
 Peter J. Hammond (1987). "altruism," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v.
1, pp. 85–87.
 Serge-Christophe Kolm ([1972] 2000). Justice and Equity. Description & chapter-
preview links. MIT Press.
 Julian Le Grand (1991). Equity and Choice: An Essay in Economics and Applied
Philosophy. Chapter preview links.
 Richard A. Musgrave (1959). The Theory of Public Finance: A Study in Political
Economy.
 _____ (1987 [2008]). "public finance," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v.
3, pp. 1055–60. Abstract.
 Richard A. Musgrave and Peggy B. Musgrave (1973). Public Finance in Theory and
Practice
 Joseph E. Stiglitz (2000). Economics of the Public Sector, 3rd ed. Norton.
 William Thomson (2008). "fair allocation," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics,
2nd Edition. Abstract.
 World Bank. World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development.Summary with
ch. links.
 H. Peyton Young (1994). Equity: In Theory and Practice. Princeton University Press.
Description, preview, and chapter 1.