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Theil, Inequality Indices and Decomposition

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Cowell

    (Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London)

Abstract

Theil’s approach to the measurement of inequality is set in the context of subsequent developments over recent decades. It is shown that Theil’s initial insight leads naturally to a very general class of decomposable inequality measures. It is thus closely related to a number of other commonly used families of inequality measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Cowell, 2005. "Theil, Inequality Indices and Decomposition," Working Papers 01, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2005-01
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    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2005-01.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2005
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank A. Cowell, 1980. "On the Structure of Additive Inequality Measures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(3), pages 521-531.
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    5. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    6. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-625, April.
    7. John C. Harsanyi, 1953. "Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-taking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(5), pages 434-434.
    8. John C. Harsanyi, 1955. "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(4), pages 309-309.
    9. Theil, Henri, 1979. "The measurement of inequality by components of income," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 197-199.
    10. 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.
    11. Bossert, Walter & Pfingsten, Andreas, 1990. "Intermediate inequality: concepts, indices, and welfare implications," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 117-134, April.
    12. Theil, Henri, 1989. "The development of international inequality 1960-1985," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 145-155, September.
    13. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-920, July.
    14. Cowell, Frank A., 1980. "Generalized entropy and the measurement of distributional change," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 147-159, January.
    15. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    16. James E. Foster & Artyom A. Shneyerov, 1999. "A general class of additively decomposable inequality measures," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 14(1), pages 89-111.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Marta Pascual-Sáez & David Cantarero-Prieto & Jose R. Pires-Manso, 2017. "Gross inland energy consumption inequality in Europe: An empirical approach," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 1704, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    3. Tudorel Andrei & Bogdan Oancea & Peter Richmond & Gurjeet Dhesi & Claudiu Herteliu, 2017. "Decomposition of the Inequality of Income Distribution by Income Types - Application for Romania," Papers 1709.07960, arXiv.org.
    4. Muszyńska Joanna & Wędrowska Ewa, 2018. "Income Inequality of Households in Poland: A Subgroup Decomposition of Generalized Entropy Measures," Econometrics. Advances in Applied Data Analysis, Sciendo, vol. 22(4), pages 43-64, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Theil; inequality; independence; homotheticity; translatability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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