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Linear Measures, the Gini Index, and The Income-Equality Trade-off

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  • Porath Elchanan Ben
  • Gilboa Itzhak

Abstract

The paper provides an axiomatization of linear inequality measures as a representation of a binary relation on the subspace of income profiles having the same total income. Interpreting the binary relation as a preferences (of, say, a policymaker), we extend the axioms to the whole space of income profiles, and find that they characterize linear social evaluation functions. The axiomatiziation seems to suggest that a policymaker who has a linear measure of inequality on a subspace should have a linear evaluation on the whole space. In particular, we find that an extension of the preferences reflected in the Gini index to the whole space is represented by a linear combination of total income and the Gini index.
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Suggested Citation

  • Porath Elchanan Ben & Gilboa Itzhak, 1994. "Linear Measures, the Gini Index, and The Income-Equality Trade-off," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 443-467, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:64:y:1994:i:2:p:443-467
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