Estimation of Gini Index within Pre-Specified Error Bound

Bhargab Chattopadhyay and Shyamal Krishna De
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Bhargab Chattopadhyay: Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
Shyamal Krishna De: School of Mathematical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Jatni 752050, Odisha, India

Econometrics, 2016, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: Gini index is a widely used measure of economic inequality. This article develops a theory and methodology for constructing a confidence interval for Gini index with a specified confidence coefficient and a specified width without assuming any specific distribution of the data. Fixed sample size methods cannot simultaneously achieve both specified confidence coefficient and fixed width. We develop a purely sequential procedure for interval estimation of Gini index with a specified confidence coefficient and a specified margin of error. Optimality properties of the proposed method, namely first order asymptotic efficiency and asymptotic consistency properties are proved under mild moment assumptions of the distribution of the data.

Keywords: distribution-free method; fixed width confidence interval; Gini index; sample size planning; U-statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B23 C C00 C01 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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