Measuring inequality
Date
2019
Authors
McGregor, Thomas
Smith, Brock
Wills, Samuel
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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Abstract
Inequality is important, both for its own sake and for its political, social, and economic implications. However, measuring inequality is not straightforward, as it requires decisions to be made on the variable, population, and distributional characteristics of interest. These decisions will naturally influence the conclusions that are drawn so they must be closely linked to an underlying purpose, which is ultimately defined by a social welfare function. This paper outlines important considerations when making each of these decisions, before surveying recent advances in measuring inequality and suggesting avenues for future work.
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Keywords
inequality, poverty, income measurement, social welfare, Gini coefficient, night-time lights, machine learning
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Source
Oxford Review of Economic Policy
Type
Journal article
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Restricted until
2099-12-31
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