Demography and social economy, 2010, 2(14):168-178
doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2010.02.168

SEMENOV V.V.
Atkinson Inequality Index, its Properties and Social Interpretation (in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the publication)
Section: MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN SOCIAL STUDIES
Language: Ukrainan
Abstract: In 2010 celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the publication of your famous article by Anthony B. Atkinson “On the Measurement of Inequality”, which was announced a new index of inequality and which subsequently received the name of the author. This paper is made and carries a determining role in the development of welfare economics and theory of social choice. Evaluation of welfare for income distribution (or any other variable associated with individual well-being) is an important task of society economics. Logical completeness of this approach means that we should be able to compare any two distributions of income and determine which of them corresponds to a higher level of social welfare. The article reviews the theoretical basis of construction of the Atkinson inequality index; multiplicative decomposition methods studied by demographic groups and by source of income. Methods of use the Atkinson index for analysis of progressivity and redistributive property of tax system was considered.
Key words: Atkinson index, Pigou–Dalton principle, decomposition, tax progressivity.
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