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A Convenient Method of Decomposing the Gini Index by Population Subgroups

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  • Ogwang Tomson

    (Department of Economics, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A)

Abstract

We propose a convenient method of estimating the within-group, between-group, and interaction components of the overall traditional Gini index from the estimated parameters of underlying “trick regression models” involving known forms of heteroscedasticity related to income. Two illustrative examples involving both real and artificial data are provided. The issue of appropriate standard error of the subgroup decomposition is also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Ogwang Tomson, 2014. "A Convenient Method of Decomposing the Gini Index by Population Subgroups," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 30(1), pages 91-105, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:offsta:v:30:y:2014:i:1:p:91-105:n:5
    DOI: 10.2478/jos-2014-0005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Tomson Ogwang, 2022. "The regression approach to the measurement and decomposition of the multidimensional Watts poverty index," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 951-973, December.
    3. Li Huang & Minjie Zheng & Rongyu Wang, 2022. "Rural Housing Rental Rates in China: Regional Differences, Influencing Factors, and Policy Implications," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Ogwang Tomson, 2016. "The Marginal Effects in Subgroup Decomposition of the Gini Index," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 32(3), pages 733-745, September.
    5. M. Costa, 2019. "The evaluation of gender income inequality by means of the Gini index decomposition," Working Papers wp1130, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    6. Rajesh K. Chauhan & Sanjay K. Mohanty & S V Subramanian & Jajati K Parida & Balakrushna Padhi, 2016. "Regional Estimates of Poverty and Inequality in India, 1993–2012," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 1249-1296, July.
    7. Giuseppe Pignataro & Michele Costa, 2023. "The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke index and the inequality factors: an analysis through the Gini index decomposition," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(2), pages 483-497, June.

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