Comment: On the Interpretation (and Misinterpretation) of Inequality Decompositions by Income Sources

B-Tier
Journal: World Development
Year: 2011
Volume: 39
Issue: 10
Pages: 1888-1890

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper discusses interpretations of different inequality decomposition rules when inequality is decomposed by income sources. It argues that authors of a recent article based their conclusions on misinterpreted decomposition results. It also argues that marginal effects, derived as elasticities of inequality with respect to uniform increases in income from each source, are easily interpreted and can be compared across different decomposition rules.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:10:p:1888-1890
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25