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Measuring welfare, inequality and poverty with ordinal variables

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  • Silber, Jacques
  • Yalonetzky, Gaston

Abstract

The key challenge in making distributional comparisons with ordinal data is the lack of commensurability of the distances between the ordered categories. This chapter provides a critical review of the most recent theoretical developments addressing this challenge and providing methods for ethical poverty, welfare, and inequality comparisons with univariate ordered multinomial distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Silber, Jacques & Yalonetzky, Gaston, 2021. "Measuring welfare, inequality and poverty with ordinal variables," GLO Discussion Paper Series 962, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:962
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    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/243299/1/GLO-DP-0962.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Ramses H. Abul Naga & Christopher Stapenhurstz & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2021. "Inferring Inequality: Testing for Median-Preserving Spreads in Ordinal Data," Working Papers 2021-01, Universidad de Málaga, Department of Economic Theory, Málaga Economic Theory Research Center.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; ordinal variables; partial ordering; poverty; welfare;
    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
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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