Thinking about Inequality: Personal Judgment and Income Distributions - Hardcover

Amiel, Yoram; Cowell, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521461316 ISBN 13: 9780521461313

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2000

Synopsis

What is inequality? In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the subject that has yielded a substantial body of formal tools and results for income-distribution analysis. But does the standard axiomatic structure coincide with public perceptions of inequality? Or is the economist's concept of inequality a thing apart, perpetuated through serial brainwashing in the way the subject is studied and taught? Amiel and Cowell examine the evidence from a large international questionnaire experiment using student respondents. Along with basic "cake-sharing" issues, related questions involving social-welfare rankings, the relationship between inequality and overall income growth and the meaning of poverty comparisons are considered.

About this title

Book Description

This upper level textbook and research resource for scholars and policy makers offers a non-technical analysis of inequality and income distribution. It deals with the way that broad ideas about the meaning of inequality are translated into specific statistical tools and with the appropriateness of the assumptions used in the literature. Along with 'cake-sharing' issues Cowell and Amiel consider social welfare, the relationship between inequality and growth and the meaning of poverty comparisons.

Review

' ... provides a neat and comprehensible introduction to the principles of the modern approach to inequality measurement.' Economic Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521461316
• ISBN 13: 9780521461313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 196