This paper proposes new measures and graphical representations of the change in bi-polarization and in the relative importance of the middle class that took place in a given country during a given period. These tools extend, in fact, the concepts of inter-distribution income inequality and...

Social polarization refers to the measurement of the distance between different social groups, defined on the basis of variables such as race, religion, or ethnicity. We propose two approaches to measuring social polarization in the case where the distance between groups is based on an ordinal...

This paper takes a close look at material deprivation in 27 European Union countries. Its main goal is to explore which expenditures individuals/households curtail first when facing economic difficulties. Two methodologies are applied: item response theory, a psychometric method also known as...

Two new normative indices of mobility are proposed. The first one is a population weighted generalized Gini mobility index and will be higher, the higher the size of the transfer between two individuals and, for a given transfer, the higher the rank difference between the individuals between...

This paper attempts to combine the analysis of wage (income) polarization with that of wage (income) mobility. Using the polarization index PG recently proposed by Deutsch et al. (2007) it shows that, when taking the identity of the individuals into account (working with panel data), a...

In a paper on the measurement of the flatness of an income distribution Berrebi and Silber (1989) showed how it was possible to derive from the Gini index a measure of the degree of Kurtosis of a distribution whose definition made it quite similar to the more famous Pearson measure of Kurtosis....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to aim at taking a closer look at the decline in the inequality of the distribution of four health variables, infant and child mortality, child stunting and underweight, that took place in various Southeast Asian countries during the past 25 years. More...

This study analyses first the impact of various income sources on overall income inequality in Switzerland in 1980, on the basis of the Income and Wealth Survey which was conducted during that year. The specific effect of each of these income sources is analyzed separately for male- and...