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Country Inequality Rankings and Conversion Schemes

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  • Timm Bönke
  • Carsten Schröder

Abstract

Two conversion schemes are usually employed for assessing personal-income inequality from household equivalent incomes: to weight household units by size or by needs.Using data from the Luxembourg Income Study, we show the sensitivity of country inequality rankings to conversion schemes and explain the finding by means of inequality decomposition. A bootstrap approach is implemented to test for statistical significance of our results.

Suggested Citation

  • Timm Bönke & Carsten Schröder, 2010. "Country Inequality Rankings and Conversion Schemes," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1068, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1068
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Karoly, Lynn & Schröder, Carsten, 2015. "Fast methods for jackknifing inequality indices," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 37(1), pages 125-138.
    2. Peter Grösche & Carsten Schröder, 2014. "On the redistributive effects of Germany’s feed-in tariff," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1339-1383, June.
    3. Timm Bönke & Carsten Schröder, 2014. "European-Wide Inequality in Times of the Financial Crisis," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 23(3), pages 7-34, November.
    4. Richard Ochmann, 2010. "Distributional and Welfare Effects of Germany's Year 2000 Tax Reform," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1083, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Bach, Stefan & Beznoska, Martin & Steiner, Viktor, 2016. "Wer trägt die Steuerlast? Verteilungswirkungen des deutschen Steuer- und Transfersystems," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 127, number 347, March.
    6. Timm Bönke & Carsten Schröder & Katharina Schulte, 2011. "Zur Entwicklung der Einkommensverteilung unter älteren Menschen in Deutschland seit der Wiedervereinigung," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 80(2), pages 81-99.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; equivalence scale; equivalent income; weighting scheme; decomposition;
    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
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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