We develop a GMM procedure for estimating income distributions from grouped data with unknown group bounds. The approach enables us to obtain standard errors for the estimated parameters and functions of the parameters, such as inequality and poverty measures, and to test the validity of an...

This paper considers the use of alternative welfare metrics in evaluations of income inequality in a multi-period context. Using Norwegian longitudinal income data, it is found, as in many studies, that inequality is lower when each individual’s annual average income is used as welfare metric,...

The (double) Pareto-lognormal is an emerging parametric distribution for income that has a sound underlying generating process, good theoretical properties, and favourable evidence of its fit to data. We extend existing results for this distribution in 3 directions. We derive closed form formula...

To measure the contributions to inequality from population subgroups, the Gini coefficient is often decomposed into inequality within groups, inequality between groups and a residual term arising from the overlapping of income distributions from different groups. In this paper we show that two...

This paper investigates the effects on income and its distribution of heterogenous preferences for education expenditures. Models of private and public education are studied and compared. Public education expenditures are determined through majority vote. Equilibria for both models are...

The nature of global and regional income distributions and the extent of inequality are examined using country-level data on income distributions drawn from World Bank studies and the World Institute for Development Economics Research for the period 1993 - 2000. Beta-2 income distributions are...

This paper examines the sensitivity of inequality and poverty measures to the adult equivalence scale and the unit of analysis. Comparisons are made using parametric equivalence scales, and income units include individuals, equivalent adults and households. The role of the correlation between...

This paper examines the effect of inequality upon economic growth. Much of the existing empirical literature has found a negative effect of inequality upon long run growth. In contrast, our theoretical model, in which heterogeneous individuals jointly determine the levels of investment in human...

A major problem encountered in studies of income inequality at regional and global levels is the estimation of income distributions from data that are in a summary form. In this paper we estimate national and regional income distributions within a general framework that relaxes the assumption of...