IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/comaot/v5y1999i1d10.1023_a1009698427007.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Inequality Between Two Distributions: Applications to the Analysis of Diversity Data

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth D. Mackenzie

    (University of Kansas)

Abstract

A new measure called diversity difference is proposed for the inequality of a pair of distributions. The diversity difference measure satisfies eight properties of a measure of inequality. This measure is simple to calculate and provides easily interpreted results. Existing inequality measures examine the distribution of a single variable whose data are arranged in a monotonic order. The new measure can employ multiple variables and does not require each to be monotonic but can be used if the data happen to be monotonic. The pair of distributions is useful for organizational diversity data because one of the distributions represents the actual proportions of employees in any class or set of classes and the other distribution is the benchmark or anchoring distribution. Data from the measure can be displayed in diversity difference trees for quick interpretation. The diversity difference measure can be arranged to define a Lorenz curve. An example with three classes (gender, race, and age) is employed to provide examples of the measure, the resulting Lorenz curve, and the disparity ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth D. Mackenzie, 1999. "The Inequality Between Two Distributions: Applications to the Analysis of Diversity Data," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 45-65, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:comaot:v:5:y:1999:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1009698427007
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1009698427007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1009698427007
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1009698427007?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. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1973. "Some further results on the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 188-204, April.
    2. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    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. Linda Barrington & Kenneth R. Troske, 2001. "Workforce Diversity and Productivity: An Analysis of Employer-Employee Match Data," Economics Program Working Papers 01-02, The Conference Board, Economics Program.

    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. Eckstein, Zvi & Zilcha, Itzhak, 1994. "The effects of compulsory schooling on growth, income distribution and welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 339-359, July.
    2. Theodore Koutmeridis, 2013. "The Market for "Rough Diamonds": Information, Finance and Wage Inequality," CDMA Working Paper Series 201307, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis, revised 14 Oct 2013.
    3. Maria Winkler-Dworak, 2003. "Food Security, Fertility Differentials and Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Framework," VID Working Papers 0301, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    4. Karsu, Özlem & Morton, Alec, 2015. "Inequity averse optimization in operational research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 245(2), pages 343-359.
    5. Nanak Kakwani & Marcelo Neri & Hyun H. Son, 2006. "Linkages between Pro-Poor Growth, Social Programmes and Labour Market: The Recent Brazilian Experience," Working Papers 26, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    6. Carbonell-Nicolau, Oriol & Llavador, Humberto, 2018. "Inequality reducing properties of progressive income tax schedules: the case of endogenous income," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), January.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2002. "New perspectives on public finance: recent achievements and future challenges," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 341-360, December.
    8. E. Savaglio, 2002. "Inequality Criteria, Transfers and their Representations," THEMA Working Papers 2002-04, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    9. Kakwani, Nanak & Neri, Marcelo Côrtes & Son, Hyun H., 2010. "Linkages Between Pro-Poor Growth, Social Programs and Labor Market: The Recent Brazilian Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 881-894, June.
    10. Laurent Derobert & Guillaume Thieriot, 2003. "The Lorenz curve as an archetype: A historico-epistemological study," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 573-585.
    11. Michel Le Breton & Juan Moreno-Ternero & Alexei Savvateev & Shlomo Weber, 2013. "Stability and fairness in models with a multiple membership," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 42(3), pages 673-694, August.
    12. Francesco Andreoli & Claudio Zoli, 2020. "From unidimensional to multidimensional inequality: a review," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 78(1), pages 5-42, April.
    13. Yoram Amiel & Frank Cowell & Liema Davidovitz & Avraham Polovin, 2008. "Preference reversals and the analysis of income distributions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(2), pages 305-330, February.
    14. Nicolas Gravel & Patrick Moyes, 2013. "Utilitarianism or welfarism: does it make a difference?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 40(2), pages 529-551, February.
    15. Alan S. Blinder & Irving Kristol & Wilbur J. Cohen, 1980. "The Level and Distribution of Economic Well-Being," NBER Chapters, in: The American Economy in Transition, pages 415-500, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Roller, Marcus, 2016. "Effective Tax Rates and Effective Progressivity in a Fiscally Decentralized Country," CEPR Discussion Papers 11152, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Prskawetz, Alexia & Winkler-Dworak, Maria & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2003. "Production, distribution and insecurity of food: a dynamic framework," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 317-337, September.
    18. Claudio Zoli, 2002. "Inverse stochastic dominance, inequality measurement and Gini indices," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 77(1), pages 119-161, December.
    19. F. A. Cowell, 1985. "‘A Fair Suck of the Sauce Bottle’ or What Do You Mean by Inequality?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(2), pages 567-579, June.
    20. Camacho-Cuena, Eva & Seidl, Christian & Morone, Andrea, 2005. "Comparing preference reversal for general lotteries and income distributions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 682-710, October.

    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:spr:comaot:v:5:y:1999:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1009698427007. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.