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Inequality decomposition by population subgroups for ordinal data

Author

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  • Martyna Kobus

    (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw)

  • Piotr Miłoś

    (Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw)

Abstract

We present a class of decomposable inequality indices for ordinal data (e.g. self-reported health survey). It is characterized by well-known inequality axioms (e.g. scale invariance) and a decomposability axiom which states that an index can be represented as a function of inequality values in subgroups and subgroup sizes. The only decomposable indices are strictly monotonic transformations of the weighted average of frequencies in categories. Among the indices proposed in the literature only the absolute value index (Abul Naga and Yalcin, 2008; Apouey, 2007) is decomposable. As an empirical illustration we calculate regional contributions to overall health inequality in Switzerland.

Suggested Citation

  • Martyna Kobus & Piotr Miłoś, 2011. "Inequality decomposition by population subgroups for ordinal data," Working Papers 2011-24, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    • Handle: RePEc:war:wpaper:2011-24
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    File URL: http://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/inf/wyd/WP/WNE_WP64.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benedicte Apouey, 2007. "Measuring health polarization with self‐assessed health data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(9), pages 875-894, September.
    2. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1984. "Inequality Decomposition by Population Subgroups," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(6), pages 1369-1385, November.
    3. Abul Naga, Ramses H. & Yalcin, Tarik, 2008. "Inequality measurement for ordered response health data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1614-1625, December.
    4. Allison, R. Andrew & Foster, James E., 2004. "Measuring health inequality using qualitative data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 505-524, May.
    5. Buhong Zheng, 2011. "A new approach to measure socioeconomic inequality in health," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(4), pages 555-577, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ordered response health data; inequality measurement; health inequality; ordinal data; decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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