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The Measurement of Diversity

Author

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  • BOSSERT, Walter
  • PATTANAIK, Prasanta K.
  • XU, Yongsheng

Abstract

The notion of diversity is an issue that is of relevance in several contexts. For example, the biodiversity of a given ecological environment and the diversity of the options available to a decision maker have attracted some attention in recent research. This paper provides an axiomatic approach to the measurement of diversity. We characterize two nested classes of ordinal measures of diversity and an important member of these classes. We prove that the latter special case is equivalent to a diversity ordering proposed by Weitzman.

Suggested Citation

  • BOSSERT, Walter & PATTANAIK, Prasanta K. & XU, Yongsheng, 2001. "The Measurement of Diversity," Cahiers de recherche 2001-17, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
    • Handle: RePEc:mtl:montde:2001-17
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1866/357
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pattanaik, Prasanta K. & Xu, Yongsheng, 2000. "On diversity and freedom of choice," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 123-130, September.
    2. Klaus Nehring & Clemens Puppe, 2002. "A Theory of Diversity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(3), pages 1155-1198, May.
    3. Martin L. Weitzman, 1992. "On Diversity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 363-405.
    4. Barbera, S. & Bossert, W. & Pattanaik, P.K., 2001. "Ranking Sets of Objects," Cahiers de recherche 2001-02, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    5. Nitzan, Shmuel I. & Pattanaik, Prasanta K., 1984. "Median-based extensions of an ordering over a set to the power set: An axiomatic characterization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 252-261, December.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Antoinette Baujard, 2006. "Conceptions of freedom and ranking opportunity sets. A typology," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 200611, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    3. Martin Hees, 2010. "The specific value of freedom," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 35(4), pages 687-703, October.
    4. Jorge Luiz dos Santos Junior & Leise Kelli de Oliveira, 2020. "Analysis of the Level of Service of Unloading Zones Using Diversity Measures in a Multiplex Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Walter Bossert & Prasanta K. Pattanaik & Yongsheng Xu, 2003. "Similarity of Options and the Measurement of Diversity," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 15(4), pages 405-421, October.
    6. Vito Peragine & Antonio Romero-Medina, 2006. "On Preference, Freedom and Diversity," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 27(1), pages 29-40, August.
    7. Walter Bossert & Conchita D'Ambrosio & Eliana La Ferrara, 2011. "A Generalized Index of Fractionalization," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(312), pages 723-750, October.
    8. Nehring, Klaus & Puppe, Clemens, 2003. "Diversity and dissimilarity in lines and hierarchies," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 167-183, April.
    9. Marcello Basili & Stefano Vannucci, 2013. "Diversity as width," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 40(3), pages 913-936, March.
    10. Gregorius, Hans-Rolf, 2012. "Assessing biological variation from the perspective of diversity," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 224(1), pages 1-10.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    diversity; distance measures;

    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General

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