Statistical inference for testing Gini Coefficients: An application for Colombia

This paper uses Colombian household survey data collected over the 1984-2005 period to estimateGini coefficients and their corresponding standard errors. We find a statistically significant increase in wage income inequality following the adoption of the liberalization measures during the early 1990s,and mixed evidence from the recovery years that followed the economic recession during the late1990s. We also find that in several cases the observed differences in the Gini coefficients acrosscities have not been statistically significant.