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Linking Yitzhaki’s and Dagum’s Gini Decompositions

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  • Stéphane Mussard
  • Patrick Richard

Abstract

In this article we show that the Gini coefficient is simultaneously decomposable both by sources of income and by populations of income receivers for non-overlapping income distributions: the so-called first-best Gini multi-decomposition. We show that this multidimensional decomposition is useful for many reasons: (i) it is related to the degree of inequality aversion of the decision maker, (ii) it is especially well suited to study inequalities between poor and non-poor people, (iii) it enables one to measure within- and between-group Gini elasticities, which gauge the impact of global transfers on within- and between-group inequalities, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Mussard & Patrick Richard, 2008. "Linking Yitzhaki’s and Dagum’s Gini Decompositions," Working Papers 08-13, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised Jul 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:lam:wpaper:08-13
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    Cited by:

    1. Mussard, Stéphane & Pi Alperin, Maria Noel, 2011. "Poverty growth in Scandinavian countries: A Sen multi-decomposition," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2842-2853.
    2. St鰨ane Mussard & Luc Savard, 2012. "The Gini multi-decomposition and the role of Gini's transvariation: application to partial trade liberalization in the Philippines," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(10), pages 1235-1249, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Yawo A. Noglo & Namponndi Kader Ouedraogo, 2020. "Using Dagum's Gini decomposition to assess households' asset-based gap in the regions of Burkina Faso," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2241-2253.
    5. Jurkatis, Simon & Strehl, Wolfgang, 2014. "Gini decompositions and Gini elasticities: On measuring the importance of income sources and population subgroups for income inequality," Discussion Papers 2014/22, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    6. Mussini, Mauro, 2013. "On decomposing inequality and poverty changes over time: A multi-dimensional decomposition," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 8-18.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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