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Measuring the Inequality of Bounded Distributions: A Joint Analysis of Attainments and Shortfalls

ISBN: 978-1-78190-553-1, eISBN: 978-1-78190-554-8

Publication date: 30 December 2013

Abstract

When health is measured by a bounded variable, differences in health can be presented as levels of attainment or shortfall. Measurement of heath inequality then usually involves the choice of either the attainment or the shortfall distribution, and this choice may affect comparisons of inequality across populations. A number of indices have been introduced to overcome this problem. This chapter proposes a framework in which attainment and shortfall distributions can be jointly analyzed. Joint distributions of attainments and shortfalls are defined from points of view consistent with concerns for relative, absolute or intermediate inequality. Inequality measures invariant according to the corresponding ethical criterion are then applied. A dominance criterion that guarantees unanimous rankings of the joint distributions is also proposed.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia under project ECO2012-31346, cofounded by FEDER and by Departamento de Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura del Gobierno Vasco, under the project IT568-13.

We are very grateful to the editors of this issue for useful comments and suggestions that have helped us to improve the chapter.

Citation

Aristondo, O. and Vega, C.L.d.l. (2013), "Measuring the Inequality of Bounded Distributions: A Joint Analysis of Attainments and Shortfalls", Health and Inequality (Research on Economic Inequality, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 33-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1049-2585(2013)0000021003

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited