IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/36328.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An elementary characterization of the Gini index

Author

Listed:
  • Sanchez-Perez, Joss
  • Plata-Perez, Leobardo
  • Sanchez-Sanchez, Francisco

Abstract

The Gini coefficient or index is perhaps one of the most used indicators of social and economic conditions. In this paper we characterize the Gini index as the unique function that satisfies the properties of scale invariance, symmetry, proportionality and convexity in similar rankings. Furthermore, we discuss a simpler way to compute it.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanchez-Perez, Joss & Plata-Perez, Leobardo & Sanchez-Sanchez, Francisco, 2012. "An elementary characterization of the Gini index," MPRA Paper 36328, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:36328
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/36328/1/MPRA_paper_36328.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaberge, Rolf, 2001. "Axiomatic Characterization of the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve Orderings," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 115-132, November.
    2. Weymark, John A., 1981. "Generalized gini inequality indices," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 409-430, August.
    3. Ebert, Udo, 1987. "Size and distribution of incomes as determinants of social welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 23-33, February.
    4. Silber, Jacques, 1989. "Factor Components, Population Subgroups and the Computation of the Gini Index of Inequality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 107-115, February.
    5. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    6. Dutta, Bhaskar, 2002. "Chapter 12 Inequality, poverty and welfare," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 597-633, Elsevier.
    7. Thon, Dominique, 1982. "An axiomatization of the Gini coefficient," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 131-143, March.
    8. Mehran, Farhad, 1976. "Linear Measures of Income Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 805-809, July.
    9. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1978. "Measures of relative equality and their meaning in terms of social welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 59-80, June.
    10. Yaari, Menahem E, 1987. "The Dual Theory of Choice under Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 95-115, January.
    11. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    12. Yaari, Menahem E., 1988. "A controversial proposal concerning inequality measurement," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-397, April.
    13. Dutta, B. & Esteban, J., 1988. "Social Welfare And Equality," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 89.88, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    14. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1983. "On an Extension of the Gini Inequality Index," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(3), pages 617-628, October.
    15. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    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. Yimin Yang, 2014. "Uniqueness of concentration index," Journal of Financial Engineering (JFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 1-9.

    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. Claudio Zoli, 2002. "Inverse stochastic dominance, inequality measurement and Gini indices," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 77(1), pages 119-161, December.
    2. Satya Chakravarty, 2007. "A deprivation-based axiomatic characterization of the absolute Bonferroni index of inequality," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(3), pages 339-351, December.
    3. Rodríguez, Juan Gabriel & Salas, Rafael, 2014. "The Gini coefficient: Majority voting and social welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 214-223.
    4. Aaberge, Rolf, 2001. "Axiomatic Characterization of the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve Orderings," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 115-132, November.
    5. Rolf Aaberge, 2009. "Ranking intersecting Lorenz curves," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 33(2), pages 235-259, August.
    6. Satya R. Chakravarty, 2009. "Equity and efficiency as components of a social welfare function," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 181-199, June.
    7. Rolf Aaberge & Magne Mogstad, 2009. "On the Measurement of Long-Term Income Inequality and Income Mobility," ICER Working Papers 09-2009, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    8. Fabio Maccheroni & Pietro Muliere & Claudio Zoli, 2005. "Inverse stochastic orders and generalized Gini functionals," Metron - International Journal of Statistics, Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilità e Statistiche Applicate - University of Rome, vol. 0(3), pages 529-559.
    9. Silvia Bortot & Ricardo Alberto Marques Pereira & Thuy H. Nguyen, 2015. "Welfare functions and inequality indices in the binomial decomposition of OWA functions," DEM Discussion Papers 2015/08, Department of Economics and Management.
    10. Peter J. Lambert & Helen T. Naughton, 2009. "The Equal Absolute Sacrifice Principle Revisited," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 328-349, April.
    11. Satya R. Chakravarty & Pietro Muliere, 2003. "Welfare indicators: A review and new perspectives. 1. Measurement of inequality," Metron - International Journal of Statistics, Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilità e Statistiche Applicate - University of Rome, vol. 0(3), pages 457-497.
    12. Rolf Aaberge, 2003. "Mean-Spread-Preserving Transformations," Discussion Papers 360, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    13. Rolf Aaberge, 2007. "Gini’s nuclear family," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(3), pages 305-322, December.
    14. Oihana Aristondo & JosŽ Luis Garc’a-Lapresta & Casilda Lasso de la Vega & Ricardo Alberto Marques Pereira, 2012. "Classical inequality indices, welfare functions, and the dual decomposition," DISA Working Papers 2012/06, Department of Computer and Management Sciences, University of Trento, Italy, revised Jun 2012.
    15. Rolf Aaberge & Magne Mogstad, 2011. "Robust inequality comparisons," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(3), pages 353-371, September.
    16. Francesco Andreoli & Claudio Zoli, 2020. "From unidimensional to multidimensional inequality: a review," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 78(1), pages 5-42, April.
    17. Rolf Aaberge & Tarjei Havnes & Magne Mogstad, 2021. "Ranking intersecting distribution functions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(6), pages 639-662, September.
    18. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2003:i:19:p:1-16 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Aaberge, Rolf & Mogstad, Magne & Peragine, Vito, 2011. "Measuring long-term inequality of opportunity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 193-204.
    20. Aaberge, Rolf & Peluso, Eugenio & Sigstad, Henrik, 2019. "The dual approach for measuring multidimensional deprivation: Theory and empirical evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-1.
    21. Vincenzo Prete & Alessandro Sommacal & Claudio Zoli, 2016. "Optimal Non-Welfarist Income Taxation for Inequality and Polarization Reduction," Working Papers 23/2016, University of Verona, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gini index; income inequality; axiomatization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    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:pra:mprapa:36328. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.