An Extension of a Measure of Polarization, with an Application to the Income Distribution of Five OECD Countries

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Gradín, Carlos; Debraj Ray & Joan Esteban (2007) An Extension of a Measure of Polarization, with an Application to the Income Distribution of Five OECD Countries, Journal of Economic Inequality 5(1): 1–19.

We introduce an extension of the Esteban and Ray [Econometrica, 1994] measure of polarization which can be applied to two types of databases:(i) data for which a density function for the income distribution has already be computed (either parametrically or non-parametrically); and (ii) data which is presented with the population grouped in either income or size intervals.

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Authors

Joan Esteban

Joan Esteban

Research Professor, Institute for Economic Analysis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Debraj Ray

Debraj Ray

Julius Silver Professor of Economics, New York University