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About the problems caused by the Gini and Kakwani index of inequality measurement
[A propos des problèmes causés par les indices de mesure d'inégalité de Gini et de Kakwani]

Author

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  • Louis de Mesnard

    (LATEC - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Techniques Economiques [UMR 5601] - UB - Université de Bourgogne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

On fait le point sur les faiblesses des indices de Gini et de Kakwani lorsque la dominance entre distributions n'est pas garantie : à un même Gini peuvent correspondre plusieurs distributions différentes et à une même valeur du Kakwani peuvent correspondre une infinité de couples d' indices de Gini. On propose alors d 'approximer la courbe de Lorenz typiquement en deux ou trois parties linéaires, puis de décrire la position de son coude ou de ses deux coudes par deux ou quatre nombres qui suffisent caractériser complètement sa forme et la catégorie à laquelle elle appartient. Une procédure de choix entre distributions est proposée, basée sur une application du maximin : entre deux distributions à un coude, celle dont la courbe de concentration est la plus tordue à droite est déclarée la moins inégalitaire.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis de Mesnard, 1997. "About the problems caused by the Gini and Kakwani index of inequality measurement [A propos des problèmes causés par les indices de mesure d'inégalité de Gini et de Kakwani]," Working Papers hal-01527267, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01527267
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01527267
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    References listed on IDEAS

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