Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Measuring inequality with interval data

Contents:

Author Info

  • Beckman, Steve
  • James Smith, W.
  • Zheng, Buhong
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    This paper employs the axiomatic approach underpinning the literature on income inequality measurement to analyze measures of dispersion in interval data. We find that some widely employed measures fail to properly measure dispersion when data are not of the ratio type. We go on to prove that, under reasonable conditions, variance is the only decomposable measure that can be used to consistently measure inequality of interval data. Moreover, the only proper Lorenz dominance condition for interval data is absolute Lorenz dominance that Moyes [Moyes, P., 1987. A new concept of Lorenz domination. Economics Letters 23, 203-207] introduced.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V88-4VFK7S2-1/2/6f77c37c986dfdea1295578e484a79b9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Bibliographic Info

    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Mathematical Social Sciences.

    Volume (Year): 58 (2009)
    Issue (Month): 1 (July)
    Pages: 25-34

    as in new window
    Handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:58:y:2009:i:1:p:25-34

    Contact details of provider:
    Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505565

    Related research

    Keywords: Unit-consistency Unit-invariance Decomposable measures Variance Inequality orderings Absolute Lorenz dominance;

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Moyes, Patrick, 1987. "A new concept of Lorenz domination," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 203-207.
    2. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-25, April.
    3. Buhong Zheng, 2007. "Inequality orderings and unit consistency," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 515-538, October.
    4. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-20, July.
    5. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "Increasing risk: I. A definition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 225-243, September.
    6. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    7. Buhong Zheng, 2007. "Unit-Consistent Decomposable Inequality Measures," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(293), pages 97-111, 02.
    8. Zheng, Buhong, 1994. "Can a Poverty Index Be Both Relative and Absolute?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(6), pages 1453-58, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:58:y:2009:i:1:p:25-34

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wendy Shamier).

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.