IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tur/wpapnw/070.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Gini Coefficient: Its Origins

Author

Listed:
  • Simone Pellegrino

    (Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino, Italy)

Abstract

This essay retraces the historical steps and analyses the theoretical motivation that influenced the definition of the Gini index G and its application today. In particular, it tries to link together the ‘purely statistical’ approach and the ‘contextual’ approach, related not only to the statistical methods discovered in the Gini’s period but also to the succession of these discoveries. Having discussed the ‘contextual’ approach of these events, the remainder of the essay focuses on the ‘purely statistical’ approach, by presenting the statistical methods discovered by Corrado Gini and Gaetano Pietra as they chronologically appear in the years 1912, 1914 and 1915. The concept of mean difference, proposed by Corrado Gini in 1912 for applications in statistics and economics, is discussed. Then the difference between the concentration ratio R Gini advanced in 1914 and the Gini index G, as it is usually used today, is highlighted in light of its geometrical interpretation with the Lorenz piecewise linear function proposed by Gaetano Pietra in 1915.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Pellegrino, 2020. "The Gini Coefficient: Its Origins," Working papers 070, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    • Handle: RePEc:tur:wpapnw:070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpapnw/m70.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2020
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    • Simone Pellegrino, 2024. "The Gini Coefficient: Its Origins," Working papers 086, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lidia Ceriani & Paolo Verme, 2012. "The origins of the Gini index: extracts from Variabilità e Mutabilità (1912) by Corrado Gini," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(3), pages 421-443, September.
    2. Newbery, David, 1970. "A theorem on the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 264-266, September.
    3. Anthony F. Shorrocks & James E. Foster, 1987. "Transfer Sensitive Inequality Measures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(3), pages 485-497.
    4. Dorfman, Robert, 1979. "A Formula for the Gini Coefficient," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(1), pages 146-149, February.
    5. Michael P Schneider, 2004. "Measuring Inequality: The Origins of the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Coefficient," Working Papers 2004.01, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    6. Michael P Schneider, 2004. "Measuring Inequality: The Origins of the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Coefficient," Working Papers 2004.01 EDIRC Provider-In, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    7. Milanovic, Branko, 1997. "A simple way to calculate the Gini coefficient, and some implications," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 45-49, September.
    8. Lerman, Robert I. & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1984. "A note on the calculation and interpretation of the Gini index," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 15(3-4), pages 363-368.
    9. Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A., 1980. "A single-parameter generalization of the Gini indices of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 67-86, February.
    10. repec:bla:econom:v:50:y:1983:i:197:p:3-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2013. "On measuring violations of the progressive principle in income tax systems," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 239-245, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Creedy, 2023. "Distributional Comparisons Using the Gini Inequality Measure," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(4), pages 538-550, December.
    2. Monti Maria Giovanna & Pellegrino Simone & Vernizzi Achille, 2024. "The Zenga Index Reveals More Than the Gini and the Bonferroni Indexes. An Analysis of Distributional Changes and Social Welfare Levels," Working papers 084, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    3. Rosita De Vincentis & Federico Karagulian & Carlo Liberto & Marialisa Nigro & Vincenza Rosati & Gaetano Valenti, 2022. "A Data-Driven Approach to Analyze Mobility Patterns and the Built Environment: Evidence from Brescia, Catania, and Salerno (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walter Piesch, 2005. "A look at the structure of some extended Ginis," Metron - International Journal of Statistics, Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilità e Statistiche Applicate - University of Rome, vol. 0(2), pages 263-296.
    2. José Manuel Gavilan-Ruiz & África Ruiz-Gándara & Francisco Javier Ortega-Irizo & Luis Gonzalez-Abril, 2024. "Some Notes on the Gini Index and New Inequality Measures: The nth Gini Index," Stats, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-12, November.
    3. Luis José Imedio Olmedo & Elena Bárcena Martín, 2007. "Dos familias numerables de medidas de desigualdad," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 31(1), pages 191-217, January.
    4. I. Josa & A. Aguado, 2020. "Measuring Unidimensional Inequality: Practical Framework for the Choice of an Appropriate Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 541-570, June.
    5. Carmen Puerta & Ana Urrutia, 2012. "Lower and upper tail concern and the rank dependent social evaluation functions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(4), pages 3250-3259.
    6. Rolf Aaberge, 2009. "Ranking intersecting Lorenz curves," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 33(2), pages 235-259, August.
    7. Anthony Shorrocks & Daniel Slottje, 2002. "Approximating unanimity orderings: An application to Lorenz dominance," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 91-117, December.
    8. Kwang Soo Cheong, 1999. "A Note on the Interpretation and Application of the Gini Coefficient," Working Papers 199901, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    9. Chateauneuf, Alain & Gajdos, Thibault & Wilthien, Pierre-Henry, 2002. "The Principle of Strong Diminishing Transfer," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 311-333, April.
    10. Claudio Zoli, 2002. "Inverse stochastic dominance, inequality measurement and Gini indices," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 77(1), pages 119-161, December.
    11. Zheng, Buhong, 2017. "A class of generalized Sen poverty indices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 100-103.
    12. Aaberge, Rolf & Havnes, Tarjei & Mogstad, Magne, 2013. "A Theory for Ranking Distribution Functions," IZA Discussion Papers 7738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Fiedler, Ingo & Kairouz, Sylvia & Costes, Jean-Michel & Weißmüller, Kristina S., 2019. "Gambling spending and its concentration on problem gamblers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 82-91.
    14. Anastasia Dimiski, 2020. "Factors that affect Students’ performance in Science: An application using Gini-BMA methodology in PISA 2015 dataset," Working Papers 2004, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    15. O'Neill, D. & Van Kerm P., 2003. "A New Approach for Analysing Income Convergence across Countries," Economics Department Working Paper Series n1261003, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    16. Bleichrodt, Han & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2006. "A welfare economics foundation for health inequality measurement," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 945-957, September.
    17. Stanislaw Heilpern, 2002. "Using Choquet integral in economics," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 53-73, January.
    18. Satya R. Chakravarty, 2009. "Equity and efficiency as components of a social welfare function," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 181-199, June.
    19. Lasso de la Vega, Casilda & Aristondo, Oihana, 2012. "Proposing indicators to measure achievement and shortfall inequality consistently," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 578-583.
    20. Yang Wei & Zhouping Li & Yunqiu Dai, 2022. "Unified smoothed jackknife empirical likelihood tests for comparing income inequality indices," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 1415-1475, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gini Coefficient; Lorenz Curve;

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:tur:wpapnw:070. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Daniele Pennesi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dstorit.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.