Journal of Economic Inequality 

About: Journal of Economic Inequality is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Income distribution & Economic inequality. It has an ISSN identifier of 1569-1721. Over the lifetime, 553 publications have been published receiving 20729 citations.

The Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty

Abstract: Many authors have insisted on the necessity of defining poverty as a multidimensional concept rather than relying on income or consumption expenditures per capita. Yet, not much has actually been done to include the various dimensions of deprivation into the practical definition and measurement of poverty. Existing attempts along that direction consist of aggregating various attributes into a single index through some arbitrary function and defining a poverty line and associated poverty measures on the basis of that index. This is merely redefining more generally the concept of poverty, which then essentially remains a one dimensional concept. The present paper suggests that an alternative way to take into account the multi-dimensionality of poverty is to specify a poverty line for each dimension of poverty and to consider that a person is poor if he/she falls below at least one of these various lines. The paper then explores how to combine these various poverty lines and associated one-dimensional gaps into multidimensional poverty measures. An application of these measures to the rural population in Brazil is also given with poverty defined on income and education.

Decomposition procedures for distributional analysis: a unified framework based on the Shapley value

Abstract: Decomposition techniques are used in many fields of economics to help disentangle and quantify the impact of various causal factors. Their use is particularly widespread in studies of poverty and inequality. In poverty analysis, most practitioners now employ decomposable poverty measures—especially the Foster et al. [10] family of indices—which enable the overall level of poverty to be allocated among subgroups of the population, such as those defined by geographical region, household composition, labour market characteristics or education level. Recent examples include Grootaert [11], Szekely [26], Thorbecke and Jung [28]. Other dynamic decomposition procedures are used to examine how economic growth contributes to a reduction in poverty over time, and to assess the extent to which the impact of growth is reinforced, or attenuated, by changes in income inequality: see for example, Ravallion and Huppi [20], Datt and Ravallion [6] and Tsui [29]. In the context of income inequality, decomposition techniques enable researchers to distinguish the “between-group” effect due to differences in average incomes across subgroups (males and females, say), from the “within-group” effect due to inequality within the population subgroups. Decomposition techniques have also been developed in order to measure the importance of components of income such as earnings or transfer payments.

Multidimensional deprivation: contrasting social welfare and counting approaches

Abstract: Adoption of a multidimensional approach to deprivation poses the challenge of under- standing the interaction between different dimensions. Are we concerned with the union of all those deprived on at least one dimension or with the intersection of those deprived on all dimensions? How does the approach of counting deprivations relate to approaches based on social welfare? The paper brings out key features of different approaches and sets them in a common framework.

Microsimulation as a Tool for Evaluating Redistribution Policies

Abstract: During the last 20 years, microsimulation models have been increasingly applied in qualitative and quantitative analysis of public policies. This paper discusses microsimulation techniques and their theoretical background as a tool for the analysis of public policies. It next analyses basic principles for using microsimulation models and interpreting their results, with emphasis on tax incidence, redistribution and poverty analysis. It then discusses social welfare analysis permitted by microsimulation techniques and points to the limits of present approaches and some directions for future developments.

Inequality of opportunity in Italy

Abstract: In this paper we provide a methodology to measure opportunity inequality and to decompose overall income inequality in an “ethically offensive” and an “ethically acceptable” part. Moreover, we analyze inequality of opportunity in Italy. According to our results, inequality of opportunity accounts for about 20% of overall income inequality in Italy. Moreover, the regions in the South are characterized by a higher degree of opportunity inequality than the regions in the North, especially when considering population subgroups by gender.