Inequality Comparisons When the Populations Differ in Size
Journal of Economic Inequality, Forthcoming
Posted: 22 Feb 2009
Date Written: February 22, 2009
Abstract
This paper considers the problem of comparing two income distributions with different numbers of income recipients. The approach eschews the "replication of populations" of Dalton's Population Principle, which has been a fixture of the literature on income inequality since its inception. We start from a preorder which is a generalization of majorization, construct the "better-than" set and characterize the order-preserving welfare functions in a unfied framework. The fixed population case falls off as a particular case.
Keywords: Incme Inequality, Lorenz domnance, Majorization, population axiom
JEL Classification: D63, D81, I31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Stein W. Wallace
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - Department of Business and Management Science ( email )
Helleveien 30
Bergen, NO-5045
Norway