A note on the relationship between top income shares and the Gini coefficient

Facundo Alvaredo ()

Economics Letters, 2011, vol. 110, issue 3, 274-277

Abstract: When a very top group of the income distribution, infinitesimal in numbers, owns a finite share S of total income, the Gini coefficient G can be approximated by G*(1 - S)Â +Â S, where G* is the Gini coefficient for the rest of the population. We provide a simple formal proof for this expression, give a general formula of the relationship when the top group is not infinitesimal, and offer two applications as illustrations.

Keywords: Gini; coefficient; Top; income; shares; Pareto; distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (186)

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Working Paper: A Note on the Relationship between Top Income Shares and the Gini Coefficient (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:110:y:2011:i:3:p:274-277

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