IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inq/inqwps/ecineq2008-100.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unit-consistency and polarization of income distributions

Author

Listed:
  • Ma Casilda Lasso de la Vega

    (Department of Applied Economics, University of the Basque Country, Dep. Economía Aplicada)

  • Ana Urrutia

    (Department of Applied Economics, University of the Basque Country, Dep. Economía Aplicada)

  • Henar Diez

    (Department of Applied Economics, University of the Basque Country, Dep. Economía Aplicada)

Abstract

Most of the polarization measures proposed in the literature, and likewise the inequality and poverty indices, assume some invariance condition, be that scale, translation or intermediate, which imposes value judgements on the measurement. In the inequality and poverty fields, B. Zheng suggests rejecting these invariance conditions as axioms and proposes replacing them with the unit-consistency axiom (Economica 2007, Economic Theory 2007 and Social Choice and Welfare 2007). This property demands that the inequality or poverty rankings, rather than their cardinal values, are not altered when income is measured in different monetary units. Following Zheng’s proposal we explore the consequences of the unit-consistency axiom in the polarization field and propose and characterize a class of intermediate polarization orderings which is unit-consistent.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma Casilda Lasso de la Vega & Ana Urrutia & Henar Diez, 2008. "Unit-consistency and polarization of income distributions," Working Papers 100, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2008-100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2008-100.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buhong Zheng, 2007. "Inequality orderings and unit consistency," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 29(3), pages 515-538, October.
    2. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2007:i:36:p:1-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Esteban, Joan & Ray, Debraj, 1994. "On the Measurement of Polarization," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(4), pages 819-851, July.
    4. Michael C. Wolfson, 1997. "Divergent Inequalities: Theory And Empirical Results," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 43(4), pages 401-421, December.
    5. Wolfson, Michael C, 1994. "When Inequalities Diverge," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 353-358, May.
    6. Jenkins, Stephen P., 1995. "Did the middle class shrink during the 1980s? UK evidence from kernel density estimates," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 407-413, October.
    7. Wolfson, Michael, 1997. "Divergent Inequalities - Theory and Empirical Results (Revised Edition)," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1997066e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    8. Jacques SILBER & Meital Hanoka & Joseph Deutsch, 2007. "On the Link Between the Concepts of Kurtosis and Bipolarization," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(36), pages 1-6.
    9. Jean-Yves Duclos & Joan Esteban & Debraj Ray, 2004. "Polarization: Concepts, Measurement, Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(6), pages 1737-1772, November.
    10. Buhong Zheng, 2007. "Unit‐Consistent Decomposable Inequality Measures," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(293), pages 97-111, February.
    11. You‐Qiang Wang & Kai‐Yuen Tsui, 2000. "Polarization Orderings and New Classes of Polarization Indices," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 2(3), pages 349-363, July.
    12. Satya R. Chakravarty & Amita Majumder & Sonali Roy, 2007. "A Treatment Of Absolute Indices Of Polarization," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 273-293, June.
    13. Claudio Zoli, "undated". "A Surplus Sharing Approach to the Measurement of Inequality," Discussion Papers 98/25, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Buhong Zheng, 2007. "Unit-Consistent Poverty Indices," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 31(1), pages 113-142, April.
    15. X. Zhang & R. Kanbur, 2001. "What Difference Do Polarisation Measures Make? An Application to China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 85-98.
    16. Tateo Yoshida, 2005. "Social welfare rankings of income distributions A new parametric concept of intermediate inequality," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 24(3), pages 557-574, June.
    17. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Echevin, Damien, 2005. "Bi-polarization comparisons," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-258, May.
    18. Satya R. Chakravarty & Amita Majumder, 2001. "Inequality, Polarisation and Welfare: Theory and Applications," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13, March.
    19. Pfingsten, Andreas, 1986. "Distributionally-neutral tax changes for different inequality concepts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 385-393, August.
    20. Claudio Zoli, 2012. "Characterizing Inequality Equivalence Criteria," Working Papers 32/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    21. repec:bla:jpbect:v:2:y:2000:i:3:p:349-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Ma Casilda Lasso de la Vega & Ana Marta Urrutia, 2006. "An Alternative Formulation of the Esteban-Gradín-Ray Extended Measure of Polarization," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 15(I), pages 42-54, December.
    23. repec:bla:revinw:v:43:y:1997:i:4:p:401-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Satya R. Chakravarty & Conchita D'Ambrosio, 2010. "Polarization Orderings Of Income Distributions," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(1), pages 47-64, March.
    25. Joe C. Davis & John H. Huston, 1992. "The Shrinking Middle-Income Class: A Multivariate Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 277-285, Summer.
    26. Ma Casilda Lasso de la Vega & Ana Marta Urrutia, 2006. "An Alternative Formulation of the Esteban-Gradín-Ray Extended Measure of Polarization," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 15(3-4), pages 42-54, December.
    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. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2017. "The Benchmark of Maximum Relative Bipolarisation," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Research on Economic Inequality, volume 25, pages 39-50, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2014. "Relative bipolarization Lorenz curve," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 1103-1113.
    3. Chiara Gigliarano & Pietro Muliere, 2012. "Measuring Income Polarization Using an Enlarged Middle Class," Working Papers 271, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Satya Chakravarty & Bhargav Maharaj, 2012. "Ethnic polarization orderings and indices," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 7(1), pages 99-123, May.
    5. Osnat Peled & Jacques Silber, 2021. "On the Measurement of Relative, Absolute and Intermediate Pro-middle Class Growth," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Research on Economic Inequality: Poverty, Inequality and Shocks, volume 29, pages 139-167, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    6. Chiara Gigliarano & Daniel Nowak & Karl Mosler, 2019. "A Polarization Index for Overlapping Groups," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(4), pages 712-735, December.
    7. Mariateresa Ciommi & Chiara Gigliarano & Giovanni Maria Giorgi, 2019. "Bonferroni And De Vergottini Are Back: New Subgroup Decompositions And Bipolarization Measures," Working Papers 439, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    8. Mauro Mussini & Biancamaria Zavanella, 2015. "Measuring bipolarization in labour productivity in Italy: a new index and its decomposition by sectors and regional factors," RIVISTA DI ECONOMIA E STATISTICA DEL TERRITORIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3), pages 29-55.
    9. Fabio Clementi & Francesco Schettino, 2013. "Income polarization in Brazil, 2001-2011: A distributional analysis using PNAD data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 1796-1815.
    10. F. Clementi & A. L. Dabalen & V. Molini & F. Schettino, 2017. "When the Centre Cannot Hold: Patterns of Polarization in Nigeria," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 608-632, December.
    11. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2013. "Relative bipolarization quasi-ordering based on Between-Group Gini (BGG) curves," Working Papers 318, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    12. Tomasz Panek & Jan Zwierzchowski, 2020. "Median Relative Partial Income Polarization Indices: Investigating Economic Polarization in Poland During the Years 2005–2015," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 1025-1044, June.
    13. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2017. "The Necessary Requirement of Median Independence for Relative Bipolarisation Measurement," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Research on Economic Inequality, volume 25, pages 51-62, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Marek Kosny & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2016. "Relative p-bipolarisation measurement with generalised means and hybrid Lorenz curves," Working Papers 404, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    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. Fabio Clementi & Francesco Schettino, 2013. "Income polarization in Brazil, 2001-2011: A distributional analysis using PNAD data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 1796-1815.
    2. F. Clementi & A. L. Dabalen & V. Molini & F. Schettino, 2017. "When the Centre Cannot Hold: Patterns of Polarization in Nigeria," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 608-632, December.
    3. Satya Chakravarty & Bhargav Maharaj, 2012. "Ethnic polarization orderings and indices," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 7(1), pages 99-123, May.
    4. Chiara Gigliarano & Daniel Nowak & Karl Mosler, 2019. "A Polarization Index for Overlapping Groups," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(4), pages 712-735, December.
    5. Chiara Assunta Ricci & Sergio Scicchitano, 2021. "Decomposing changes in income polarization by population group: what happened during the crisis?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 235-259, April.
    6. Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2015. "A Class of Social Welfare Functions That Depend on Mean Income and Income Polarization," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(3), pages 422-439, September.
    7. Fuad Aleskerov & Victoria Oleynik, 2016. "Multidimensional Polarization Index and its Application to an Analysis of the Russian State Duma," Papers 1608.01351, arXiv.org.
    8. Michal Brzezinski, 2013. "Income Polarization and Economic Growth," LIS Working papers 587, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    9. Mariateresa Ciommi & Chiara Gigliarano & Giovanni Maria Giorgi, 2019. "Bonferroni And De Vergottini Are Back: New Subgroup Decompositions And Bipolarization Measures," Working Papers 439, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2004. "Measuring polarization, inequality, welfare and poverty," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/75, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    11. Ricci, Chiara Assunta & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "The role of Great Recession on income polarization by population groups," GLO Discussion Paper Series 766, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Peter Lambert, 2010. "James Foster and Michael Wolfson’s 1992 paper “Polarization and the decline of the middle class”," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 241-245, June.
    13. Walter Bossert & William Schworm, 2008. "A Class of Two‐Group Polarization Measures," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(6), pages 1169-1187, December.
    14. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Echevin, Damien, 2005. "Bi-polarization comparisons," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-258, May.
    15. Ambra Poggi & Jacques Silber, 2010. "On Polarization And Mobility: A Look At Polarization In The Wage–Career Profile In Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(1), pages 123-140, March.
    16. Iñaki Permanyer, 2012. "The conceptualization and measurement of social polarization," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(1), pages 45-74, March.
    17. Schettino, Francesco & Gabriele, Alberto & Khan, Haider A., 2021. "Polarization and the middle class in China: A non-parametric evaluation using CHNS and CHIP data," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 251-264.
    18. Marta Pascual & David Cantarero & Paloma Lanza, 2018. "Health polarization and inequalities across Europe: an empirical approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(8), pages 1039-1051, November.
    19. Chiara Gigliarano & Karl Mosler, 2009. "Constructing indices of multivariate polarization," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 7(4), pages 435-460, December.
    20. Satya R. Chakravarty & Conchita D'Ambrosio, 2010. "Polarization Orderings Of Income Distributions," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(1), pages 47-64, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Polarization Orderings; Unit-consistency;

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:inq:inqwps:ecineq2008-100. 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: Maria Ana Lugo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecineea.html .

    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.