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Inequality Indices

In: Lectures on Inequality, Poverty and Welfare

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Villar

    (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

Abstract

This chapter presents the notion of inequality indices as functions that map the space of income distributions into the real numbers. We address here two specific questions. First, we discuss a set of properties, or requirements, that make a function a suitable candidate for an inequality index. Those properties include Normalisation, Symmetry, Population Replication, Principle of Transfers, Continuity, Scale Independence and Additive Decomposability. Second, we illustrate the difference between the notions of dispersion and inequality, by analysing the properties and key features of the variance and its related measures (standard deviation, coefficient of variation). We show that even though the variance satisfies most of the properties we may require for an inequality index, it is not a suitable inequality measure.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Villar, 2017. "Inequality Indices," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Lectures on Inequality, Poverty and Welfare, chapter 0, pages 19-30, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:lnechp:978-3-319-45562-4_2
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-45562-4_2
    as

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