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Concepts and measurements of economic inequality

In: Research Handbook on Poverty and Inequality

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  • Udaya R. Wagle

Abstract

Economic inequality captures the idea of disparities in the distribution of economic resources across individuals or groups. While the broader concepts touch on various aspects of human well-being, economic resources often captured in such monetary terms as income (or consumption expenditures) and wealth have been the most widely used spaces to measure inequality. The most typical measures of inequality include those that focus on resource concentration (percentiles, deciles, quintiles, and quartiles as well as their ratios) and dispersion (coefficient of variation, log variance, Gini coefficient, generalized entropy, and Atkinson indices). This chapter introduces the concept of economic inequality, discusses the different spaces applied to measure inequality, and presents key theoretical concepts and applications of various measures of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Udaya R. Wagle, 2023. "Concepts and measurements of economic inequality," Chapters, in: Udaya R. Wagle (ed.), Research Handbook on Poverty and Inequality, chapter 5, pages 68-87, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20521_5
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