This note provides simple tests for first-order bi-polarization orderings of distributions of living standards. In doing so, the paper also offers an ethical basis and an interpretation for the common use of some simple measures of distances from the median. Illustrations using Luxembourg Income...

This paper tackles the issues of social polarization and income polarization in several North American, European and Australian countries in the perspective of redistribution patterns. Presenting a simple theoretical framework, we argue that comparing both types of polarization can help predict...