Analysis of Socio-economic Conditions : Insights from a Fuzzy Multi-dimensional Approach

Showcasing fuzzy set theory, this book highlights the enormous potential of fuzzy logic in helping to analyse the complexity of a wide range of socio-economic patterns and behaviour.

The contributions to this volume explore the most up-to-date fuzzy-set methods for the measurement of socio-economic phenomena in a multidimensional and/or dynamic perspective. Thus far, fuzzy-set theory has primarily been utilised in the social sciences in the field of poverty measurement. These chapters examine the latest work in this area, while also exploring further applications including social exclusion, the labour market, educational mismatch, sustainability, quality of life and violence against women. The authors demonstrate that real-world situations are often characterised by imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, which cannot be properly described by the classical set theory which uses a simple true–false binary logic. By contrast, fuzzy-set theory has been shown to be a powerful tool for describing the multidimensionality and complexity of social phenomena.

This book will be of significant interest to economists, statisticians and sociologists utilising quantitative methods to explore socio-economic phenomena.

Gianni Betti is Full Professor in Statistics and Economics at the Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena, Italy. He has worked on several projects for the World Bank and European Commission and has been closely involved with the development of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions.

Achille Lemmi has been Full Professor in Statistics and Economics at the University of Siena, Italy. Presently he is Honorary Fellow of the Tuscan Universities Research Centre on Advanced Statistics for Sustainable and Equitable Development (TURC-ASESD) 'Camilo Dagum' at the University of Pisa, Italy.