An inequality measure for stochastic allocations

Soo Hong Chew and Jacob S. Sagi

Journal of Economic Theory, 2012, vol. 147, issue 4, 1517-1544

Abstract: Few papers in the literature on inequality measurement deal with uncertainty, particularly when the ranking of cohorts may not be fixed. We present a set of axioms implying such a class of inequality measures under uncertainty that is a one-parameter extension of the generalized Gini mean over the distribution of average allocations. The extension consists of a quadratic term accounting for inter-personal correlations. In particular, our measure can simultaneously accommodate a preference for “shared destiny”, a preference for probabilistic mixtures over unfair allocations, and a preference for fairness “for sure” over fairness in expectation.

Keywords: Income inequality; Social welfare; Utility theory; Risk; Uncertainty; Other regarding; Preference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D71 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:4:p:1517-1544

DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2011.05.002

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