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The Sensitivity Of Income Inequality To Choice Of Equivalence Scales

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  • Rolf Aaberge
  • Ingrid Melby

Abstract

To account for the fact that a household's needs depend on its size and composition most studies on income inequality adjust the observed household incomes by equivalence scales. However, since the rationale for choosing a specific scale is rather vague the importance of testing the sensitivity of income inequality estimates to choice of equivalence scales has long been acknowledged. The sensitivity studies in the literature are restricted to equivalence scales that do not depend on the income level of the reference household which means that the effect of a rise in the household size on the scale rate does not depend on whether the household is poor or rich. By using Norwegian micro‐data it is shown that the introduction of an income‐dependent scale produces results that are in conflict with the widespread view of robustness of results to choice of equivalence scales.

Suggested Citation

  • Rolf Aaberge & Ingrid Melby, 1998. "The Sensitivity Of Income Inequality To Choice Of Equivalence Scales," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 44(4), pages 565-569, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:44:y:1998:i:4:p:565-569
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1998.tb00299.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Kirill Pogorelskiy & Christian Seidl & Stefan Traub, 2010. "Tax progression: International and intertemporal comparisons using LIS data," Working Papers 184, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    2. Mysikova, Martina & Zelinsky, Tomas, 2019. "On the Measurement of the Income Poverty Rate: the Equivalence Scale across Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 99(4), pages 383-397.
    3. Frick, Joachim R. & Grabka, Markus M., 2001. "Der Einfluß von Imputed Rent auf die personelle Einkommensverteilung," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 221(3), pages 285-308.
    4. Joachim R. Frick & Markus M. Grabka, 2000. "Personelle Einkommensverteilung und der Einfluß von Imputed Rent," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 225, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Jürgen Faik, 2011. "A New Framework of Measuring Inequality: Variable Equivalence Scales and Group-Specific Well-Being Limits ; Sensitivity Findings for German Personal Income Distribution 1995-2009," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 401, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Jung, Haeil & Kim, Jun Hyung & Hong, Gihyeon, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Bönke, Timm & Schröder, Carsten, 2007. "Equivalence scales reconsidered: an empirical investigation," Economics Working Papers 2007-31, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    8. Notburga Ott, 2018. "Armutsmessung und Armutsbekämpfung: OECD-Skala und „Statistik“-Modell der Regelbedarfsberechnung auf die Probe gestellt [Poverty measurement and poverty reduction: OECD scale and ‚statistical‘-mode," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 12(1), pages 5-25, April.
    9. Bente Halvorsen, 2009. "Conflicting Interests in Environmental Policy-making?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 44(2), pages 287-305, October.
    10. Johannes Schwarze, 2000. "Using Panel Data on Income Satisfaction to Estimate the Equivalence Scale Elasticity," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 227, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Schröder, Carsten & Bönke, Timm, 2012. "Country inequality rankings and conversion schemes," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-43.
    12. Boyd H. Hunter & Steven Kennedy & Daniel Smith, 2003. "Household Composition, Equivalence Scales and the Reliability of Income Distributions: Some Evidence for Indigenous and Other Australians," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 79(244), pages 70-83, March.
    13. Kristoffer Berg & Morten Håvarstein & Paolo Piacquadio & Paolo Giovanni Piacquadio, 2024. "Equity and Efficiency When Needs Differ," CESifo Working Paper Series 11310, CESifo.
    14. Rolf Aaberge & Audun Langørgen, 2006. "Measuring The Benefits From Public Services: The Effects Of Local Government Spending On The Distribution Of Income In Norway," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(1), pages 61-83, March.
    15. Steven F. Koch, 2021. "Equivalence Scales with Endogeneity and Base Independence," Working Papers 202185, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    16. Mathieu J. P. Poirier & Karen A. Grépin & Michel Grignon, 2020. "Approaches and Alternatives to the Wealth Index to Measure Socioeconomic Status Using Survey Data: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 1-46, February.
    17. Christos Koulovatianos & Carsten Schröder, 2023. "Income-dependent equivalence scales and choice theory: implications for poverty measurement," Chapters, in: Jacques Silber (ed.), Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation, chapter 4, pages 39-49, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Christian Dudel & Jan Marvin Garbuszus & Notburga Ott & Martin Werding, 2015. "Income Dependent Equivalence Scales, Inequality, and Poverty," CESifo Working Paper Series 5568, CESifo.
    19. Timm Bönke & Carsten Schröder, 2007. "Inequality and welfare estimates using two alternative weighting schemes," LIS Working papers 463, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    20. Frick Joachim R. & Grabka Markus M., 2001. "Der Einfluß von Imputed Rent auf die personelle Einkommensverteilung. The Impact of Imputed Rent on the Personal Distribution of Income," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 221(3), pages 285-308, June.
    21. Jan Marvin Garbuszus & Notburga Ott & Sebastian Pehle & Martin Werding, 2018. "Development of Family Income since the 1990s: A Fresh Look at German Microdata Using Income-Dependent Equivalence Scales," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 987, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    22. Hillringhaus, Tilman & Peichl, Andreas, 2010. "Die Messung von Armut unter Berücksichtigung regional divergierender Lebenshaltungskosten und öffentlicher Leistungen," IZA Discussion Papers 5344, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    23. Steven F. Koch, 2022. "Equivalence scales in a developing country with extensive inequality," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 90(4), pages 486-512, December.
    24. Brian Nolan & Christopher T. Whelan, 2010. "Using non-monetary deprivation indicators to analyze poverty and social exclusion: Lessons from Europe?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 305-325.
    25. Erling Røed Larsen, 2002. "Consumption Inequality in Norway in the 80s and 90s," Discussion Papers 325, Statistics Norway, Research Department.

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