IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/globdv/v8y2018i2p18n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On Comprehensively Intermediate Measures of Inequality and Poverty, with an Illustrative Application to Global Data

Author

Listed:
  • Subramanian S.

    (Independent Scholar, 36H, North Parade Road, St. Thomas MountChennai 600016, Tamil Nadu, India)

Abstract

The dominant convention in the measurement of inequality and poverty is to employ scale-invariant and replication-invariant measures, that is, measures that are thoroughgoingly relative. This is a routine feature of both the theoretical and applied literature in the area, despite weighty arguments that have been advanced by certain practitioners in favor of centrist measures which avoid the “extreme” values of both income-relative and income-absolute measures. The present paper extends these arguments in favor of measures which are both income-centrist and population centrist. A comprehensively centrist Gini coefficient of inequality is proposed, and likewise a comprehensively centrist class of poverty measures which are counterparts of the well-known Foster-Greer Thorbecke class of relative poverty measures. It is suggested that our diagnosis of the problems of inequality and poverty is likely to be a profoundly variable function of the precise types of inequality and poverty measures we employ in order to assess the magnitudes and trends of the phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • Subramanian S., 2017. "On Comprehensively Intermediate Measures of Inequality and Poverty, with an Illustrative Application to Global Data," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:18:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2017-0027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2017-0027
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jgd-2017-0027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudio Zoli, 2012. "Characterizing Inequality Equivalence Criteria," Working Papers 32/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    2. Coral Del Río & Javier Ruiz‐Castillo, 2001. "Intermediate Inequality and Welfare: The Case of Spain, 1980–81 to 1990–91," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(2), pages 221-237, June.
    3. Manfred Krtscha, 2017. "Some axiomatics of inequality measurement, with specific reference to intermediate indices," Working Papers 445, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Bossert, Walter & Pfingsten, Andreas, 1990. "Intermediate inequality: concepts, indices, and welfare implications," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 117-134, April.
    5. Christoph Lakner & Branko Milanovic, 2016. "Global Income Distribution: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 203-232.
    6. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Shaohua Chen & Andrew Dabalen & Yuri Dikhanov & Nada Hamadeh & Dean Jolliffe & Ambar Narayan & Espen Beer Prydz & Ana Revenga & Prem Sangraula & Umar Serajuddin & Nobuo Yosh, 2016. "A global count of the extreme poor in 2012: data issues, methodology and initial results," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(2), pages 141-172, June.
    7. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. II," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 82-111, August.
    8. Tateo Yoshida, 2005. "Social welfare rankings of income distributions A new parametric concept of intermediate inequality," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 24(3), pages 557-574, June.
    9. Claudio Zoli, 2009. "Variable population welfare and poverty orderings satisfying replication properties," Working Papers 69/2009, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    10. repec:bla:revinw:v:47:y:2001:i:2:p:221-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Foster, James E, 1998. "Absolute versus Relative Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 335-341, May.
    12. Hassoun, Nicole & Subramanian, S., 2012. "An aspect of variable population poverty comparisons," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 238-241.
    13. Subramanian, S., 2002. "Counting the poor: an elementary difficulty in the measurement of proverty," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 277-285, October.
    14. Alain Janvry & Ravi Kanbur (ed.), 2006. "Poverty, Inequality and Development," Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being, Springer, number 978-0-387-29748-4, November.
    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. D. Jayaraj & S. Subramanian, 2018. "The Distribution of Household Assets in India: 1991–1992 to 2012–2013," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 12(2), pages 181-203, August.

    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. Coral Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2010. "New unit-consistent intermediate inequality indices," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 42(3), pages 505-521, March.
    2. Marko Ledić & Ivica Rubil & Ivica Urban, 2023. "Tax progressivity and social welfare with a continuum of inequality views," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(5), pages 1266-1296, October.
    3. Francisco Azpitarte & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2012. "A Dominance Criterion for Measuring Income Inequality from a Centrist View: The Case of Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n03, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. Manfred Krtscha, 2017. "Some axiomatics of inequality measurement, with specific reference to intermediate indices," Working Papers 445, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Anthony B. Atkinson & Andrea Brandolini, 2010. "On Analyzing the World Distribution of Income," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 24(1), pages 1-37, January.
    6. Claudio Zoli, 2018. "A Note on Progressive Taxation and Inequality Equivalence," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality, Taxation and Intergenerational Transmission, volume 26, pages 15-33, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Subramanian Sreenivasan & Jayaraj Dhairiyarayar, 2013. "The Evolution of Consumption and Wealth Inequality in India: A Quantitative Assessment," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 253-281, November.
    8. Subbu Subramanian, 2014. "Dividing a cake (or) Distributional values in the measurement of economic inequality: an expository note," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 7(2), May.
    9. Gustav Kjellsson & Ulf-G. Gerdtham, 2013. "Lost in Translation: Rethinking the Inequality Equivalence Criteria for Bounded Health Variables," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Health and Inequality, volume 21, pages 3-32, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Sreenivasan Subramanian & D. Jayaraj, 2015. "Growth and Inequality in the Distribution of India's Consumption Expenditure: 1983 to 2009-10," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-025, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. D. Jayaraj & S. Sreenivasan, 2015. "Growth and inequality in the distribution of India's consumption expenditure: 1983 to 2009-10," WIDER Working Paper Series 025, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Paul Allanson & Dennis Petrie, 2014. "Understanding The Vertical Equity Judgements Underpinning Health Inequality Measures," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(11), pages 1390-1396, November.
    13. Coral del Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2008. "Rankings of income distributions: a note on intermediate inequality indices," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality and Opportunity: Papers from the Second ECINEQ Society Meeting, pages 213-229, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Higgins, Sean & Lustig, Nora, 2016. "Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-75.
    15. Carla Krolage & Andreas Peichl & Daniel Waldenström, 2022. "Long-run trends in top income shares: The role of income and population growth," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 97-118, March.
    16. Florent Bresson & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2015. "Intertemporal poverty comparisons," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 44(3), pages 567-616, March.
    17. S. Subramanian & Diganta Mukherjee, 2018. "On Intermediate Headcount Indices Of Poverty," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 443-451, October.
    18. Ivica Urban, 2017. "Measuring income redistribution: beyond the proportionality standard," Working Papers 427, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    19. Sunil Rajpal & Rockli Kim & Lathan Liou & William Joe & S. V. Subramanian, 2020. "Does the Choice of Metric Matter for Identifying Areas for Policy Priority? An Empirical Assessment Using Child Undernutrition in India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 823-841, December.
    20. Francisco Azpitarte & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2011. "Ray-invariant intermediate inequality measures: A Lorenz dominance criterion," Working Papers 226, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    absolute inequality and poverty; centrist inequality and poverty; relative inequality and poverty; replication invariance; replication scaling; scale invariance; translation invariance;
    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
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

    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:bpj:globdv:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:18:n:5. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.