The book presents a new survey method for assessing equivalence scales. While previous surveys have frequently been accused of providing data which are substantially biased by respondents' personal characteristics and other subjective biases the new method keeps bias to an absolute minimum....

Two conversion schemes may be employed for assessing income inequality from household equivalent incomes: to weight household units by size or by needs. Using data from the Luxembourg Income Study, we show the sensitivity of country inequality rankings to conversion schemes and explain the...