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‘Williamson’s Fallacy’ in Estimation of Inter-Regional Inequality

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  • Gluschenko, Konstantin

Abstract

While estimating regional inequality, many economists use inequality indices weighted by regions’ shares in the national population. Despite this approach is widespread, its adequacy has not received attention in the regional science literature. This paper proves that such approach is conceptually inconsistent, yielding an estimate of interpersonal inequality among the whole population of the country rather than an estimate of regional inequality. Moreover, the population-weighted inequality indices do not meet requirements to an adequate inequality measure.

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  • Gluschenko, Konstantin, 2015. "‘Williamson’s Fallacy’ in Estimation of Inter-Regional Inequality," MPRA Paper 71075, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 May 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:71075
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    3. Ana María López-Villuendas & Cristina del Campo, 2023. "Regional Economic Disparities in Europe: Time-Series Clustering of NUTS 3 Regions," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 46(3), pages 265-298, May.
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    6. Ilya V. Naumov & Vladislav M. Sedelnikov, 2021. "Interregional relationships in the Russian dairy market: Spatial growth poles," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 103-124, October.
    7. Wenzheng Li & Stephan Schmidt & Stefan Siedentop, 2024. "Can polycentric urban development simultaneously achieve both economic growth and regional equity? A multi-scale analysis of German regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 525-545, March.
    8. Shifa, Muna & Leibbrandt, Murray, 2021. "Spatial Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," EconStor Preprints 244591, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Ousmane Traoré, 2022. "The effect of income on health: evidence from the poverty gaps analysis method in the sub-Saharan Africa," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(3), pages 401-432, September.
    10. Rok Hrzic & Tobias Vogt & Helmut Brand & Fanny Janssen, 2021. "The Short-Term Effects of European Integration on Mortality Convergence: A Case Study of European Union’s 2004 Enlargement," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 909-931, November.
    11. Jianxu Liu & Xiaoqing Li & Yansong Li & Jirakom Sirisrisakulchai & Xuefei Kang & Jiande Cui, 2024. "Decomposition and Driving Factors of Total Factor Productivity of Food Crops in the Yellow River Basin, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, March.
    12. Ousmane Traoré, 2021. "The relationship between health poverty and income poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries: evidence from index correlations," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-19, October.
    13. Zheng, Shiming & Yao, Rongrong & Zou, Ke, 2022. "Provincial environmental inequality in China: Measurement, influence, and policy instrument choice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    14. Kolomak, E. A., 2020. "Economic effects of pandemic-related restrictions in Russia and their spatial heterogeneity," R-Economy, Ural Federal University, Graduate School of Economics and Management, vol. 6(3), pages 154-161.
    15. Feng Wang & HaiYing Wang & Jun Yan, 2023. "Diagnostic Tests for the Necessity of Weight in Regression With Survey Data," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 91(1), pages 55-71, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality index; Weighting by population; Williamson coefficient of variation; inequality axioms;
    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
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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