Characterizing inequality benchmark incomes

Laurence Roope

Economic Theory Bulletin, 2019, vol. 7, issue 1, No 10, 145 pages

Abstract: Abstract Many inequality measures have the property that for any income distribution there exists a benchmark income, above which adding incremental income increases inequality, and below which it decreases inequality. This note provides social preference conditions which guarantee the existence of such a benchmark income. The key condition is a strong version of the Pigou–Dalton transfer principle. The results imply that benchmark incomes exist for virtually all known inequality measures.

Keywords: Inequality; Inequality measurement; Benchmark income; Transfer principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40505-018-0148-5

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