Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions

The authors propose a modification to the conventional approach of decomposing income inequality by population sub-groups. Specifically, they propose a measure that evaluates observed between-group inequality against a benchmark of maximum between-group inequality that can be attained when the numbe...

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Main Authors: Elbers, Chris, Lanjouw, Peter, Mistiaen, Johan A., Özler, Berk
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/08/6236958/re-interpreting-sub-group-inequality-decompositions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8604
id okr-10986-8604
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-86042021-04-23T14:02:43Z Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions Elbers, Chris Lanjouw, Peter Mistiaen, Johan A. Özler, Berk AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOMES BETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITY CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTERFACTUAL DECOMPOSABLE INCOME INEQUALITY MEASURES DECOMPOSABLE INEQUALITY MEASURES DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS DECOMPOSITION RESULTS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING WORLD DIFFERENCES IN INCOME EARNINGS INEQUALITY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC POLICIES ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMIC STUDIES ECONOMIC THEORY EMPIRICAL WORK GINI COEFFICIENT GROUP INEQUALITIES GROUP INEQUALITY GROUP MEANS HIGH INEQUALITY HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INCOME INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS INCOME INEQUALITY INCOMES INEQUALITY AVERSION INEQUALITY DECOMPOSITION INEQUALITY DECREASE INEQUALITY MEASURE INEQUALITY MEASUREMENT INEQUALITY MEASURES LATIN AMERICAN MEAN DIFFERENCES MEAN INCOME MEAN INCOMES MEAN LOG DEVIATION MEASURED INEQUALITY MEASUREMENT ERROR MEASURING INEQUALITY NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP 0 HYPOTHESIS PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA INCOME PER CAPITA INCOME LEVEL PER CAPITA INCOMES POLICY IMPLICATIONS POLICY RESEARCH POOR POPULATION SHARE POPULATION SUB-GROUPS POSITIVE CORRELATION POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY REDUCTION REGRESSION RESULTS RESIDUAL TERM SAM SOCIAL GROUPS STATISTICAL METHODS WELFARE INDICATORS WELLBEING The authors propose a modification to the conventional approach of decomposing income inequality by population sub-groups. Specifically, they propose a measure that evaluates observed between-group inequality against a benchmark of maximum between-group inequality that can be attained when the number and relative sizes of groups under examination are fixed. The authors argue that such a modification can provide a complementary perspective on the question of whether a particular population breakdown is salient to an assessment of inequality in a country. As their measure normalizes between-group inequality by the number and relative sizes of groups, it is also less subject to problems of comparability across different settings. The authors show that for a large set of countries their assessment of the importance of group differences typically increases substantially on the basis of this approach. The ranking of countries (or different population groups) can also differ from that obtained using traditional decomposition methods. Finally, they observe an interesting pattern of higher levels of overall inequality in countries where their measure finds higher between-group contributions. 2012-06-20T22:04:18Z 2012-06-20T22:04:18Z 2005-08 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/08/6236958/re-interpreting-sub-group-inequality-decompositions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8604 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3687 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOMES
BETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITY
CENTRAL ASIAN
COUNTERFACTUAL
DECOMPOSABLE INCOME INEQUALITY MEASURES
DECOMPOSABLE INEQUALITY MEASURES
DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS
DECOMPOSITION RESULTS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING WORLD
DIFFERENCES IN INCOME
EARNINGS INEQUALITY
ECONOMETRICS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY
ECONOMIC POLICIES
ECONOMIC POLICY
ECONOMIC REVIEW
ECONOMIC STUDIES
ECONOMIC THEORY
EMPIRICAL WORK
GINI COEFFICIENT
GROUP INEQUALITIES
GROUP INEQUALITY
GROUP MEANS
HIGH INEQUALITY
HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
INCOME
INCOME DIFFERENCES
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOMES
INEQUALITY AVERSION
INEQUALITY DECOMPOSITION
INEQUALITY DECREASE
INEQUALITY MEASURE
INEQUALITY MEASUREMENT
INEQUALITY MEASURES
LATIN AMERICAN
MEAN DIFFERENCES
MEAN INCOME
MEAN INCOMES
MEAN LOG DEVIATION
MEASURED INEQUALITY
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MEASURING INEQUALITY
NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP
0 HYPOTHESIS
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION
PER CAPITA INCOME
PER CAPITA INCOME LEVEL
PER CAPITA INCOMES
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POOR
POPULATION SHARE
POPULATION SUB-GROUPS
POSITIVE CORRELATION
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP
POVERTY LINES
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
POVERTY REDUCTION
REGRESSION RESULTS
RESIDUAL TERM
SAM
SOCIAL GROUPS
STATISTICAL METHODS
WELFARE INDICATORS
WELLBEING
spellingShingle AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOMES
BETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITY
CENTRAL ASIAN
COUNTERFACTUAL
DECOMPOSABLE INCOME INEQUALITY MEASURES
DECOMPOSABLE INEQUALITY MEASURES
DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS
DECOMPOSITION RESULTS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING WORLD
DIFFERENCES IN INCOME
EARNINGS INEQUALITY
ECONOMETRICS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY
ECONOMIC POLICIES
ECONOMIC POLICY
ECONOMIC REVIEW
ECONOMIC STUDIES
ECONOMIC THEORY
EMPIRICAL WORK
GINI COEFFICIENT
GROUP INEQUALITIES
GROUP INEQUALITY
GROUP MEANS
HIGH INEQUALITY
HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
INCOME
INCOME DIFFERENCES
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOMES
INEQUALITY AVERSION
INEQUALITY DECOMPOSITION
INEQUALITY DECREASE
INEQUALITY MEASURE
INEQUALITY MEASUREMENT
INEQUALITY MEASURES
LATIN AMERICAN
MEAN DIFFERENCES
MEAN INCOME
MEAN INCOMES
MEAN LOG DEVIATION
MEASURED INEQUALITY
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MEASURING INEQUALITY
NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP
0 HYPOTHESIS
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION
PER CAPITA INCOME
PER CAPITA INCOME LEVEL
PER CAPITA INCOMES
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POOR
POPULATION SHARE
POPULATION SUB-GROUPS
POSITIVE CORRELATION
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP
POVERTY LINES
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
POVERTY REDUCTION
REGRESSION RESULTS
RESIDUAL TERM
SAM
SOCIAL GROUPS
STATISTICAL METHODS
WELFARE INDICATORS
WELLBEING
Elbers, Chris
Lanjouw, Peter
Mistiaen, Johan A.
Özler, Berk
Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
relation Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3687
description The authors propose a modification to the conventional approach of decomposing income inequality by population sub-groups. Specifically, they propose a measure that evaluates observed between-group inequality against a benchmark of maximum between-group inequality that can be attained when the number and relative sizes of groups under examination are fixed. The authors argue that such a modification can provide a complementary perspective on the question of whether a particular population breakdown is salient to an assessment of inequality in a country. As their measure normalizes between-group inequality by the number and relative sizes of groups, it is also less subject to problems of comparability across different settings. The authors show that for a large set of countries their assessment of the importance of group differences typically increases substantially on the basis of this approach. The ranking of countries (or different population groups) can also differ from that obtained using traditional decomposition methods. Finally, they observe an interesting pattern of higher levels of overall inequality in countries where their measure finds higher between-group contributions.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Elbers, Chris
Lanjouw, Peter
Mistiaen, Johan A.
Özler, Berk
author_facet Elbers, Chris
Lanjouw, Peter
Mistiaen, Johan A.
Özler, Berk
author_sort Elbers, Chris
title Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
title_short Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
title_full Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
title_fullStr Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
title_full_unstemmed Re-Interpreting Sub-Group Inequality Decompositions
title_sort re-interpreting sub-group inequality decompositions
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/08/6236958/re-interpreting-sub-group-inequality-decompositions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8604
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