Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On a Class of Inequality Measures

  • Conference paper
Distributive Justice and Inequality

  • 77 Accesses

Abstract

The parametric class of inequality measures examined in what follows contains, as extreme special cases, the inequality measures that are homogeneous of degree zero (concept of relative inequality) and those that leave inequality unchanged when all incomes, say, are increased by the same amount (concept of absolute inequality). The intermediate concepts studied here have the property that multiples of convex combinations of proportional and absolute changes (in all incomes) leave inequality unchanged.

The author is indebted to Janos Aczél, James Foster, Andreas Pfingsten, Anthony Shorrocks, and Peter Volkmann who provided helpful comments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Dalton H (1920) The measurement of the inequality of incomes. Econ J 30:348–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fields GS, Fei JCH (1978) On inequality comparisons. Econometrica 46:303–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolm SC (1976) Unequal inequalities. I. J Econ Theory 12:416–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marhsall AW, Olkin I (1979) Inequalities: Theory of majorization and its applications. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfingsten A (1986a) Distributionally-neutral tax changes for different inequality concepts. J Publ Econ 30:385–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfingsten A (1986b) The measurement of tax progression. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfingsten A (1987) Progressive taxation and redistributive taxation: different labels for the same product? Discussion Paper 287 (October 1986), Karlsruhe

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothschild M, Stiglitz JE (1973) Some further results on the measurement of inequality. J Econ Theory 6:188–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Wirtschaftstheorie und Operations Research, Universität Karlsruhe, D-7500, Karlsruhe, Federal Republic of Germany

    W. Eichhorn

Authors
  1. W. Eichhorn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Osnabrück, Postfach 4469, D-4500, Osnabrück, Germany

    Wulf Gaertner

  2. Department of Economics, Faculty of Commerce and Social Science, The University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham, B 15 2TT, UK

    Prasanta K. Pattanaik

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Eichhorn, W. (1988). On a Class of Inequality Measures. In: Gaertner, W., Pattanaik, P.K. (eds) Distributive Justice and Inequality. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73816-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73816-6_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73818-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73816-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation