A Proposal to Compare Consistently the Inequality Among the Poor |
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| Authors: | Oihana Aristondo Francisco J Goerlich Gisbert Casilda Lasso De La Vega |
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| Affiliation: | 1. University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and BRIDGE Research Group, Spain;2. University of Valencia and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas IVIE, Spain |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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| Keywords: | D63 I30 I32 income and gap inequality inequality among the poor poverty measurement |
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