IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lvl/lacicr/0806.html

On the Decomposition of Polarization Indices: Illustrations with Chinese and Nigerian Household Surveys

Author

Listed:
  • Abdelkrim Araar

Abstract

This paper explores the link between polarization and inequality and proposes some analytical methods to decompose the Duclos, Esteban, and Ray (2004) polarization index by population groups or income sources. In some cases, the decomposition methods were extend to the Esteban and Ray (1994) one. The main aim of these decomposition methods is to extend the interpretation derived from polarization indices to that of contribution components. Results drawn from Chinese data conclude that even if inequality has increased sharply during the last two decades, the pure polarization component was remained constant or even decreased on average. On the other hand, results from the 2004 Nigerian survey conclude that the population is spatially polarized, and this, based on geo-ecological zones. Furthermore, the two income sources, namely, Employment income and Non farm business income, significantly contribute to total polarization.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdelkrim Araar, 2008. "On the Decomposition of Polarization Indices: Illustrations with Chinese and Nigerian Household Surveys," Cahiers de recherche 0806, CIRPEE.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cirpee.org/fileadmin/documents/Cahiers_2008/CIRPEE08-06.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dagum, Camilo, 1997. "A New Approach to the Decomposition of the Gini Income Inequality Ratio," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 515-531.
    2. Jean-Yves Duclos & Joan Esteban & Debraj Ray, 2004. "Polarization: Concepts, Measurement, Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(6), pages 1737-1772, November.
    3. Dwayne Benjamin & Loren Brandt & John Giles & Sangui Wang, 2005. "Income Inequality During China's Economic Transition," Working Papers tecipa-238, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    4. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 1997. "What Can New Survey Data Tell Us about Recent Changes in Distribution and Poverty?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 357-382, May.
    5. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    6. Jean-Yves Duclos & Abdelkrim Araar, 2003. "An Atkinson-Gini family of social evaluation functions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(19), pages 1-16.
    7. Lambert, Peter J & Aronson, J Richard, 1993. "Inequality Decomposition Analysis and the Gini Coefficient Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(420), pages 1221-1227, September.
    8. Abdelkrim Araar & Awoyemi Taiwo, 2006. "Poverty and Inequality Nexus: Illustrations with Nigerian Data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 28(15), pages 1.
    9. Wolfson, Michael C, 1994. "When Inequalities Diverge," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 353-358, May.
    10. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:28:y:2006:i:15:p:a0 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Abdelkrim Araar, 2006. "On the Decomposition of the Gini Coefficient: an Exact Approach, with an Illustration Using Cameroonian Data," Cahiers de recherche 0602, CIRPEE.
    12. Esteban, Joan & Ray, Debraj, 1994. "On the Measurement of Polarization," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(4), pages 819-851, July.
    13. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1979. "Relative Deprivation and the Gini Coefficient," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(2), pages 321-324.
    14. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2003:i:19:p:1-16 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Pyatt, Graham, 1976. "On the Interpretation and Disaggregation of Gini Coefficients," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 86(342), pages 243-255, June.
    16. James Foster & Michael Wolfson, 2014. "Erratum to: Polarization and the decline of the middle class: Canada and the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(3), pages 435-437, September.
    17. John D. Hey & Peter J. Lambert, 1980. "Relative Deprivation and the Gini Coefficient: Comment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(3), pages 567-573.
    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. Jérôme Lefranc, 2012. "Polarisation et déclin de la classe moyenne : le cas de la Russie," Post-Print halshs-00775929, HAL.
    2. Marco Ranaldi, 2022. "Income Composition Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 139-160, March.
    3. Ibrahim Tutar & Aysit Tansel, 2012. "An Analysis Of Political And Institutional Power Dispersion: The Case Of Turkey," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(4), pages 548-565, October.
    4. Adam Salifu & Godwin Seyram Agbemavor Horlu, 2022. "Nonfarm employment and mobility of farmers into different income groups: evidence from rural Ghana," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-25, January.
    5. C�line Bonnefond & Matthieu Cl�ment, 2012. "An analysis of income polarisation in rural and urban China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 15-37, June.
    6. Traldi, Rebecca & Silva, Julie A. & Potapov, Peter & Tyukavina, Alexandra & Epprecht, Michael & Gore, Meredith L. & Phompila, Chittana, 2023. "Cultivating inequality? Regional rubber dynamics and implications for voluntary sustainability programs in Lao PDR," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. Ines Bouassida & AbdelRahmen El Lahga, 2010. "Household Expenditure Polarization: Evidence from The Arab Region," Working Papers 559, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Jan 2010.
    8. 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).
    9. Marco Ranaldi, 2016. "On the Measurement of Functional Income Distribution," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 16051rrr, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, revised Oct 2018.
    10. Ibrahim Tutar & Aysit Tansel, 2012. "An Analysis Of Political And Institutional Power Dispersion: The Case Of Turkey," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(4), pages 548-565, October.
    11. Marco Ranaldi, 2016. "On the Measurement of Functional Income Distribution," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 16051rr, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, revised Feb 2018.
    12. 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.
    13. Schettino, Francesco & Scicchitano, Sergio & Suppa, Domenico, 2024. "COVID 19 and Wage Polarization: A task based approach," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1398, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Fabio Clementi & Andrew L. Dabalen & Vasco Molini & Francesco Schettino, 2014. "The Centre Cannot Hold: Patterns of Polarization in Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Susmita Sengupta & Sanat Kumar Guchhait, 2021. "Inequality in Contemporary India: Does Caste Still Matter?," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 37(1), pages 57-82, March.
    16. Deutsch, Joseph & Fusco, Alessio & Silber, Jacques, 2013. "The BIP Trilogy (bipolarization, inequality and polarization): One saga but three different stories," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 7, pages 1-33.
    17. Silva, Julie A. & Matyas, Corene J. & Cunguara, Benedito, 2014. "Regional Inequality and Polarization in the Context of Concurrent Extreme Weather and Economic Shocks," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 186603, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    18. Chen, Xi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2009. "The Distribution of Income and Well-Being in Rural China: A Survey of Panel Data Sets, Studies and New Directions," MPRA Paper 20587, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Wang, Jinxian & Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees & Wang, Chen, 2015. "Decomposing income polarization and tax-benefit changes across 31 European countries and Europe wide, 2004-2012," MPRA Paper 66155, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Clementi, Fabio & Dabalen, Andrew L. & Molini, Vasco & Schettino, Francesco, 2014. "The centre cannot hold: Patterns of polarization in Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series 149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    21. Elena Bárcena-Martín & Jacques Silber, 2018. "On the Decomposition of the Esteban and Ray Index by Income Sources," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-9, March.
    22. Wang, Chen & Wan, Guanghua, 2015. "Income polarization in China: Trends and changes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 58-72.
    23. Marco Ranaldi, 2018. "On the Measurement of Functional Income Distribution," Post-Print halshs-01379229, HAL.
    24. Ensar Yılmaz & Zeynep Kaplan, 2022. "Regional polarization in Turkey," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 410-431, March.
    25. 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.

    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. Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2004. "Measuring polarization, inequality, welfare and poverty," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/75, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    2. 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.
    3. Gordon Anderson & Jasmin Thomas, 2019. "Measuring Multi-group Polarization, Segmentation and Ambiguity: Increasingly Unequal Yet Similar Constituent Canadian Income Distributions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 1001-1032, October.
    4. Abdelkrim Araar, 2008. "Social Classes, Inequality and Redistributive Policies in Canada," Cahiers de recherche 0817, CIRPEE.
    5. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 2010. "Is There Room For Polarization?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(1), pages 7-22, March.
    6. Jean-Yves Duclos, 2006. "Liberté ou égalité?," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 82(4), pages 441-476.
    7. Abdelkrim Araar & Awoyemi Taiwo, 2006. "Poverty and Inequality Nexus: Illustrations with Nigerian Data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 28(15), pages 1.
    8. Antonio Abatemarco, 2010. "Measuring inequality of opportunity through between-group inequality components," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(4), pages 475-490, December.
    9. Wang, Chen & Wan, Guanghua, 2015. "Income polarization in China: Trends and changes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 58-72.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Sorger, Gerhard & Stark, Oded, 2013. "Income redistribution going awry: The reversal power of the concern for relative deprivation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-9.
    14. Joan Maria Esteban, 2018. "Inequality and Conflict," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-25, March.
    15. 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.
    16. Schettino, Francesco & Khan, Haider A., 2020. "Income polarization in the USA: What happened to the middle class in the last few decades?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 149-161.
    17. Alexander Sohn, 2015. "Beyond Conventional Wage Discrimination Analysis: Assessing Comprehensive Wage Distributions of Males and Females Using Structured Additive Distributional Regression," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 802, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. Paul Makdissi & Stéphane Mussard, 2008. "Decomposition of s-concentration curves," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(4), pages 1312-1328, November.
    19. Stéphane Mussard & Françoise Seyte & Michel Terraza, 2006. "La décomposition de l’indicateur de Gini en sous-groupes : une revue de la littérature," Cahiers de recherche 06-11, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:lvl:lacicr:0806. 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: Manuel Paradis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cirpeca.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.