We solve the problem of a social planner who seeks to minimize inequality via transfers with a fixed public budget in a distribution of exogenously given incomes. The appropriate solution method depends on the objective function: If it is convex, as in the case of the absolute mean deviation, it...

We study divisor methods, the primary class to solve apportionment problems, based upon Stolarsky means S(alphabeta). These encompass the five traditional methods. We disclose a one-to-one relation between methods of the form S(alpha1) and aggregate measures of seat/vote disproportionality of...

The Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) provides valuable information for the monetary policy and financial stability purposes. The dataset shows, however, inconsistencies with National Account (NtlA) statistics, as the aggregated HFCS micro data do usually not match the...

In this paper we analyze the factors that should be considered when allocating a given policy function at a particular level of government and how these factors affect the growth and evolution of multi-level governments. After discussing the interplay of economies of scale, economies of scope,...

In this paper we show how theorems of Borsuk-Ulam and Tucker can be used to construct a consensus-halving: a division of an object into two portions so that each of n people believe the portions are equally split. Moreover, the division takes at most n cuts, which is best possible. This extends...