Handbook of Income Inequality Measurement

The Handbook of Income Inequality Measurement emphasizes the theoretical foundations of the domain and its extensions and applications. Following a thorough overview of the main questions that have to be addressed explicitly or implicitly when making income inequality comparisons, the volume offers a historical survey of the link between the personal and functional distributions of incomes. The next chapters are devoted to a presentation of the theoretical basis of income inequality analysis and give an illuminating account of the normative, axiomatic and subjective approaches to this area and of its connections to the literature on stochastic dominance. Four studies then look at the statistical tools to be employed when assessing or ranking inequalities, whether the goal is to estimate inequality indices, derive parametric approximations to Lorenz curves or test the significance of the partial orderings that reflect Lorenz comparisons. The last nine chapters review specific issues in and applications of income inequality analysis. The subjects covered are the decomposition of inequality by income sources and population subgroups, the use of equivalence scales, multidimensional inequality, income tax progressivity, life-time income inequality, income mobility and the interrelations between inequality, welfare and poverty.