We use the delta method to derive the large sample distribution of multidimensional inequality indices. We also present a simple method for computing standard errors and obtain explicit formulas in the context of two families of indices

We investigate the empirical usefulness of a new measure of the degree of competition in a market, proposed by Boone (2000). This measure is based on the reduction in profits that firms experience as a result of cost inefficiencies. We compare this with measures commonly used by policy makers...

This study aimed to explore the correlation between results using alternative methods to categorize households into different socio-economic groups, ranking by income and by the asset index. Data were used from the national household socio-economic surveys (SES) in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The asset...

Inequality measures are powerful tools of applied welfare analysis. However, to use the tools effectively one has to take into account the characteristics of the data with which one usually has to work. These raise a number of common statistical problems which are addressed here for both...

Drawing on recent work concerning the statistical robustness of inequality statistics we examine the sensitivity of poverty indices to data contamination using the concept of the influence function. We show that poverty and inequality indices have fundamentally different robustness properties,...

This paper reviews alternative approaches to measuring an economy's cost competitiveness and proposes some new measures inspired by the economic theory of index numbers. The indices provide a theoretical benchmark for estimated real effective exchange rates, but differ from standard measures in...

The crisis of international markets following recent events such as terrorist attacks, wars in the Middle East, high public debts, growing financial globalisation and integration have raised an interest in the analysis of country risk among industrialised countries as well as emerging nations....