Inequality, bi-polarization and polarization are related but distinct concepts aiming at analysing the income distribution. This paper first recalls the main differences between these three notions of inequality, bipolarization and polarization. It then shows that a close look at the impact of...

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...

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...

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....

This paper extends the famous Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) discrimination in several directions. First, the wage difference breakdown is not limited to two groups. Second, a decomposition technique is proposed that allows analysis of the determinants of the overall wage dispersion. The...

This paper notes that Ginis concept of "Transvariazione" corresponds to the idea of overlapping of distributions. It shows that this concept is implicit in some measures of income inequality such as the Pietra and Gini Index and is at the basis of various measures of distance between...

This paper extends the famous Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) discrimination analysis in several directions. First the wage difference breakdown is not limited to two groups. Second a decomposition technique is proposed that allows analyzing the determinants of the overall wage dispersion. The...