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On Comprehensively Intermediate Measures of Inequality and Poverty, with an Illustrative Application to Global Data

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  • Subramanian S.

    (Independent Scholar, 36H, North Parade Road, St. Thomas MountChennai 600016, Tamil Nadu, India)

Abstract

The dominant convention in the measurement of inequality and poverty is to employ scale-invariant and replication-invariant measures, that is, measures that are thoroughgoingly relative. This is a routine feature of both the theoretical and applied literature in the area, despite weighty arguments that have been advanced by certain practitioners in favor of centrist measures which avoid the “extreme” values of both income-relative and income-absolute measures. The present paper extends these arguments in favor of measures which are both income-centrist and population centrist. A comprehensively centrist Gini coefficient of inequality is proposed, and likewise a comprehensively centrist class of poverty measures which are counterparts of the well-known Foster-Greer Thorbecke class of relative poverty measures. It is suggested that our diagnosis of the problems of inequality and poverty is likely to be a profoundly variable function of the precise types of inequality and poverty measures we employ in order to assess the magnitudes and trends of the phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • Subramanian S., 2017. "On Comprehensively Intermediate Measures of Inequality and Poverty, with an Illustrative Application to Global Data," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:18:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2017-0027
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Claudio Zoli, 2012. "Characterizing Inequality Equivalence Criteria," Working Papers 32/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    2. Coral Del Río & Javier Ruiz‐Castillo, 2001. "Intermediate Inequality and Welfare: The Case of Spain, 1980–81 to 1990–91," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(2), pages 221-237, June.
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    4. Bossert, Walter & Pfingsten, Andreas, 1990. "Intermediate inequality: concepts, indices, and welfare implications," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 117-134, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. D. Jayaraj & S. Subramanian, 2018. "The Distribution of Household Assets in India: 1991–1992 to 2012–2013," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 12(2), pages 181-203, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    absolute inequality and poverty; centrist inequality and poverty; relative inequality and poverty; replication invariance; replication scaling; scale invariance; translation invariance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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