IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/stidar/27.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Equivalence of Scales and Inequality (published in Income Inequality Measurement:From Theory to Practice, J Silber (ed), Dewenter: Kluver (1999)

Author

Listed:
  • Frank A Cowell
  • Magda Mercader-Prats

Abstract

Instead of Inequality analysis sometimes neglects the problem of allowing differences in people's non-income characteristics in the comparison of income distribution, I would say, At the heart of any distributional analysis there is the problem of allowing for differences in people's non-income characteristics. We examine the role of standard equivalence scales in distributional comparisons and the welfare implications of the basis for constructing equivalence scales. We consider the use of alternative approaches that do not require the specification of a single scale and implement one of these in a practical comparison of Spain and the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank A Cowell & Magda Mercader-Prats, 1997. "Equivalence of Scales and Inequality (published in Income Inequality Measurement:From Theory to Practice, J Silber (ed), Dewenter: Kluver (1999)," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 27, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:stidar:27
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/darp/darp27.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:econom:v:59:y:1992:i:233:p:1-16 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Muellbauer, John, 1974. "Household composition, Engel curves and welfare comparisons between households : A duality approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 103-122, August.
    3. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. II," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 82-111, August.
    4. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Differences in Needs and Assessment of Income Distributions," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 77-124, April.
    5. Glewwe, Paul, 1991. "Household equivalence scales and the measurement of inequality : Transfers from the poor to the rich could decrease inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 211-216, March.
    6. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1986. "On Measuring Child Costs: With Applications to Poor Countries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 720-744, August.
    7. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. I," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 416-442, June.
    8. Ebert U., 1996. "Income inequality and differences in household size," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 57-58, February.
    9. Franklin M. Fisher, 1987. "Household Equivalence Scales and Interpersonal Comparisons," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(3), pages 519-524.
    10. repec:bla:econom:v:50:y:1983:i:197:p:3-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Stein Ringen, 1991. "Households, Standard Of Living, And Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 37(1), pages 1-13, March.
    12. Jenkins, Stephen P & Cowell, Frank A, 1994. "Parametric Equivalence Scales and Scale Relativities," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 891-900, July.
    13. repec:bla:revinw:v:30:y:1984:i:3:p:351-75 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Frank A. Cowell, 1984. "The Structure Of American Income Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 30(3), pages 351-375, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guillermo Cruces & Quentin Wodon, 2003. "Argentina’s crises and the Poor, 1995-2002," Económica, Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, vol. 0(1-2), pages 55-96, January-D.
    2. Martina Menon & Federico Perali & Eva Sierminska, 2017. "An Efficiency Comparison of Means Testing Tools: Money Metric or Counting Approach?," CHILD Working Papers Series 57 JEL Classification: D1, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    3. MENON Martina & PERALI Federico & SIERMINSKA Eva, 2016. "An Asset-based Indicator of Wellbeing for a Unified Means Testing Tool: Money Metric or Counting Approach?," LISER Working Paper Series 2016-09, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cowell, Frank & Mercader-Prats, Magda, 1999. "Equivalence scales and inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2190, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. repec:cte:werepe:2909 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Peter J. Lambert & Xavier Ramos, 2001. "Welfare comparisons: sequential procedures for heterogenous population," Working Papers wp0114, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    4. Yadira Diaz, 2015. "Differences in needs and multidimensional deprivation measurement," Working Papers 387, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    6. John Creedy & Catherine Sleeman, 2004. "Adult Equivalence Scales, Inequality and Poverty in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/21, New Zealand Treasury.
    7. Sunil Kumar & Renuka Mahadevan, 2008. "Construction of An Adult Equivalence Index to Measure Intra-household Inequality and Poverty: Case Study," Discussion Papers Series 363, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    8. John Creedy & Rosanna Scutella, 2003. "The Role of the Unit of Analysis in Tax Policy Reform Evaluations," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n28, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Ok, Efe A. & Lambert, Peter J., 1999. "On evaluating social welfare by sequential generalized Lorenz dominance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 45-53, April.
    10. repec:cte:werepe:6070 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Vargas, Carmen, 1996. "A social welfare model for the evaluation of the spanish income tax system," UC3M Working papers. Economics 4100, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    12. Ulman Paweł, 2012. "Equivalence Scale in Terms of Polish Households' Source of Income," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 114-127, January.
    13. Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 1995. "Income distribution and social welfare: a review essay," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 19(1), pages 3-34, January.
    14. Ebert, Udo & Moyes, Patrick, 2000. "Consistent Income Tax Structures When Households Are Heterogeneous," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 116-150, January.
    15. Peter Lambert & Giuseppe Lanza, 2006. "The effect on inequality of changing one or two incomes," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(3), pages 253-277, December.
    16. James E. Foster & Joel Greer & Erik Thorbecke, 2010. "The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) Poverty Measures: Twenty-Five Years Later," Working Papers 2010-14, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    17. Coral Del Río & Javier Ruiz‐Castillo, 2001. "Intermediate Inequality and Welfare: The Case of Spain, 1980–81 to 1990–91," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(2), pages 221-237, June.
    18. Fleurbaey, Marc & Hagnere, Cyrille & Trannoy, Alain, 2003. "Welfare comparisons with bounded equivalence scales," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 309-336, June.
    19. John Creedy & Rosanna Scutella, 2004. "The Role of the Unit of Analysis in Tax Policy Return Evaluations of Inequality and Social Welfare," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 7(1), pages 89-108, March.
    20. Jones, Andrew & O'Donnell, Owen, 1995. "Equivalence scales and the costs of disability," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 273-289, February.
    21. Panayiota Lyssiotou & Panos Pashardes, 2004. "Comparing the True Cost of Living Indices of Demographically Different Households," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 21-39, January.
    22. Peter Lambert, & Giuseppe Lanza, 2003. "The effect on inequality of changing one or two incomes," IFS Working Papers W03/15, Institute for Fiscal Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cep:stidar:27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.