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Problems with SWIID: the case of South Africa

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  • Martin Wittenberg

Abstract

The Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) provides estimates of inequality for South Africa for 1965 which are simply not plausible. Indeed the entire 95 % confidence interval is outside the plausible range. An examination of this case suggests that the SWIID’s promise to capture the “noise” associated with any estimate is unlikely to be warranted. The procedures will provide accurate confidence intervals only in cases where the original measurements are unbiased and the imputation model is reasonable. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Wittenberg, 2015. "Problems with SWIID: the case of South Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 673-677, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:13:y:2015:i:4:p:673-677
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-015-9306-2
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    1. Stephen Jenkins, 2015. "World income inequality databases: an assessment of WIID and SWIID," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 629-671, December.
    2. Mr. Desmond Lachman & Mr. Kenneth Bercuson, 1992. "Economic Policies for a New South Africa," IMF Occasional Papers 1992/003, International Monetary Fund.
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco G. Ferreira & Nora Lustig & Daniel Teles, 2015. "Appraising cross-national income inequality databases: An introduction," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 497-526, December.
    2. Krieger, Tim & Renner, Laura, 2020. "Polygyny, inequality, and social unrest," Discussion Paper Series 2020-02, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
    3. Le, Thai-Ha & Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh & Tran-Nam, Binh, 2020. "The Kuznets curve for export diversification and income inequality: Evidence from a global sample," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 21-39.
    4. Florian Dorn, 2016. "On Data and Trends in Income Inequality around the World," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(4), pages 54-64, December.
    5. repec:ces:ifodic:v:14:y:2016:i:4:p:19267790 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Grunewald, Nicole & Klasen, Stephan & Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Muris, Chris, 2017. "The Trade-off Between Income Inequality and Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 249-256.
    7. Christian Houle, 2017. "Inequality, ethnic diversity, and redistribution," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Florian Dorn, 2016. "On Data and Trends in Income Inequality around the World," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(04), pages 54-64, December.
    9. Christian Houle, 2017. "Inequality, ethnic diversity, and redistribution," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, March.

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    Keywords

    South Africa; Inequality; SWIID;
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