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RESEARCH PRODUCT

A Proposal to Compare Consistently the Inequality Among the Poor

Casilda Lasso De La VegaOihana AristondoFrancisco José Goerlich Gisbert

subject

ReinterpretationEconomics and EconometricsIndex (economics)PovertyInequalityPublic economicsmedia_common.quotation_subjectPoverty measurementPoor peopleIncome inequality metricsEconomicsEconometricsSocial inequalitymedia_common

description

A poverty index should be sensitive to the number of poor people, the extent of the shortfall of the poor, and the inequality among the poor. A difficulty arises when inequality among the poor needs to be assessed. The inequality may be analyzed in terms of either incomes or gaps. Depending on what side we focus on, the inequality level comparisons may be contradictory. This paper proposes a reinterpretation of the inequality component involved in the decompositions of well-known poverty indices. The alternative indices we introduce measure equally the income and gap inequality among the poor. The comparisons in inequality as measured by these indices are then independent of the viewpoint. An empirical application illustrates the proposal.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2013-11-12Review of Income and Wealth
https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12086