We axiomatically characterize the Theil ordering of income inequality. In addition to the uncontroversial axioms of anonymity, homogeneity, replication invariance, strong directedness, and a standard continuity property, we appeal to both an independence and a decomposability axioms. These two...

Measuring the extent to which distribution is polarized has recently attracted some attention from economists. Polarization, though related to inequality, is a different concept and implies a tendency towards clustering of observations into groups. It is of interest because it may be related to...

This paper emphasizes the properties of a family of inequality measures which extends the Atkinson indices and is axiomatically characterized by a multiplicative decomposition property where the withingroup component is a generalized weighted mean with weights summing exactly to 1. This family...

This paper explores the implications of using multidimensional majorization criteria to derive inequality measures, without taking into consideration the idea behind the Pigou-Dalton principle, in the sense that if a richer person transfers something of at least one attribute to a poorer person...

In several economic fields, such as those related to health or education, the individuals’ characteristics are measured by bounded variables. Accordingly, these characteristics may be indistinctly represented by achievements or shortfalls. A difficulty arises when inequality needs to be...