IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/ubzefd/349216.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On a transformation of the Gini coefficient into a well-behaved social welfare function

Author

Listed:
  • Stark, Oded

Abstract

Following Sen’s (1973) characterization of the Gini coefficient as a ratio between a measure of aggregate income-based stress (“depression” in Sen’s terminology) and aggregate income, we transform the Gini coefficient into a social welfare function rather than having the Gini coefficient feature as an input in a social welfare function as in Sen (1973 and 1997), Sen (1976), and Sen (1982). The “Gini social welfare function” assigns weights that reflect preferences to aggregate income and to aggregate income-based stress (income inequality), a desirable property that a social welfare function in which the Gini coefficient features as an input does not have. The transformation bears on the formation of public policy and on the welfare analysis of policy interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Stark, Oded, 2025. "On a transformation of the Gini coefficient into a well-behaved social welfare function," Discussion Papers 349216, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ubzefd:349216
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.349216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/349216/files/360_On%20a%20transformation%20of%20the%20Gini%20coefficient%20into%20a%20well-behaved%20social%20welfare%20function.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.349216?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
    ---><---

    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:ags:ubzefd:349216. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zefbnde.html .

    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.