A Dominance Criterion for Measuring Income Inequality from a Centrist View: The Case of Australia

22 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2012

See all articles by Francisco Azpitarte

Francisco Azpitarte

Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research & Brotherhood of St Laurence

Olga Alonso-Villar

Universidade de Vigo

Date Written: February 2012

Abstract

This paper introduces a new Lorenz dominance criterion that allows ranking income distributions according to centrist measures à la Seidl and Pfingsten (1997). In doing so, it defines α-Lorenz curves by adapting the generalized Lorenz curves to this case. In addition, it provides an empirical illustration of these tools using Australian income data for the period 2001–2008. The results suggest that despite the reduction of relative inequality, inequality increased for most centrist value judgments.

Keywords: Income distribution, Lorenz dominance, intermediate inequality indices, Ray invariance

JEL Classification: D63

Suggested Citation

Azpitarte, Francisco and Alonso-Villar, Olga, A Dominance Criterion for Measuring Income Inequality from a Centrist View: The Case of Australia (February 2012). Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 3/12, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2008021 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2008021

Francisco Azpitarte (Contact Author)

Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research & Brotherhood of St Laurence ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
111 Barry Street, University of Melbourne
Melbourne, 3010
+61 3 9035 3414 (Phone)
+61 3 8344 2111 (Fax)

Olga Alonso-Villar

Universidade de Vigo ( email )

Fac. de Económicas
Vigo, Pontevedra 36310
Spain

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