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On the measurement of polarization for ordinal data

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  • Martyna Kobus

    (Warsaw University, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Dluga 44/50, 00-241 Warsaw, Poland.)

Abstract

Atkinson’s Theorem (Atkinson, 1970) is a classic result in inequality measurement. It establishes Lorenz dominance as a useful criterion for comparative judgements of inequality between distributions. If a Lorenz distribution A dominates distribution B, then all indices in a broad class of measures must confirm A as less unequal than B. Recent research, however, shows that standard inequality theory cannot be applied to ordinal data (Zheng, 2008), such as self-reported health status or educational attainment. A new theory in development (Apouey, 2007; Abul Naga and Yalcin, 2008) measures disparity of ordinal data as polarization. Typically a criterion used to compare distributions is the polarization relation as proposed by Allison and Foster (AF) (2004). We characterize classes of polarization measures equivalent to the AF relation analogously to Atkinson’s original approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Martyna Kobus, 2014. "On the measurement of polarization for ordinal data," Working Papers 325, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2014-325
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    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2014-325.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Livia ŞTEFĂNESCU, 2015. "Analyzing the health status of the population using ordinal data," Computational Methods in Social Sciences (CMSS), "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 3(1), pages 18-24, June.
    2. Martyna Kobus & Marcin Jakubek, 2015. "Youth unemployment and mental health: dominance approach. Evidence from Poland," IBS Working Papers 4/2015, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    3. Vanesa Jorda & Borja López-Noval & José María Sarabia, 2019. "Distributional Dynamics of Life Satisfaction in Europe," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1015-1039, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Polarization; Inequality measurement; Ordinal data; Atkinson’s Theorem; Dominance.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics

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