TY - JOUR
T1 - Linear measures, the gini index, and the income-equality trade-off
AU - Ben Porath, Elchanan
AU - Gilboa, Itzhak
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - This paper provides an axiomatization of linear inequality measures representing binary relations on the subspace of income profiles having identical total income. Interpreting the binary relation as a policymaker’s preference, we extend the axioms to the whole space and find that they characterize linear social evaluation functions. The axiomatization seems to suggest that a policymaker who has a linear measure of inequality on a subspace should have a linear evaluation on the whole space. An extension of the preferences reflected in the Gini index to the whole space is represented by a linear combination of total income and the Gini index. Journal of Economic Literature Classification numbers: D30, D31, D60, D63, D81.
AB - This paper provides an axiomatization of linear inequality measures representing binary relations on the subspace of income profiles having identical total income. Interpreting the binary relation as a policymaker’s preference, we extend the axioms to the whole space and find that they characterize linear social evaluation functions. The axiomatization seems to suggest that a policymaker who has a linear measure of inequality on a subspace should have a linear evaluation on the whole space. An extension of the preferences reflected in the Gini index to the whole space is represented by a linear combination of total income and the Gini index. Journal of Economic Literature Classification numbers: D30, D31, D60, D63, D81.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0000335346&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1006/jeth.1994.1076
DO - 10.1006/jeth.1994.1076
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AN - SCOPUS:0000335346
SN - 0022-0531
VL - 64
SP - 443
EP - 467
JO - Journal of Economic Theory
JF - Journal of Economic Theory
IS - 2
ER -