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Inequality values as excess shares

Author

Listed:
  • Shorrocks, Anthony

Abstract

Inequality research is handicapped by a lack of instruments to communicate the high level of prevailing inequality to the general public. This paper offers a promising solution to this shortcoming. Building on the classic cake-sharing framework yields not only a novel interpretation of the Gini coefficient as the excess share of the richest person in an n-way partition, but also a powerful way of portraying inequality levels in a diagram. This new inequality metric can also be applied to inequality measures other than the Gini, providing opportunities to resurrect indices which have fallen into disuse in recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Shorrocks, Anthony, 2026. "Inequality values as excess shares," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 137849, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:137849
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/137849/
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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