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Social Welfare, Inequality and Deprivation

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  • Patrick Moyes
  • Brice Magdalou

Abstract

We provide a characterization of the generalised satisfaction - in our terminology nondeprivation - quasi-ordering introduced by S.R. Chakravarty (Keio Economic Studies 34 (1997), 17-32) for making welfare comparisons based on the absence of deprivation. We show that the non-deprivation quasi-ordering obeys a weaker version of the principle of transfers: welfare improves only for specific combinations of progressive transfers which require that the same amount be taken from richer individuals and allocated to one arbitrary poorer individual. We identify the subclass of extended Gini social welfare functions that are consistent with this principle and we show that the unanimity of value judgments among this class is identical to the ranking of distributions implied by the non-deprivation quasi-ordering. We extend the approach to the measurement of inequality by considering the corresponding relative and absolute ethical inequality indices.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Moyes & Brice Magdalou, 2008. "Social Welfare, Inequality and Deprivation," LIS Working papers 502, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:502
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Progressive Transfers; Welfare; Inequality; Deprivation; Lorenz Dominance; Extended Gini Social Welfare Functions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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