Comparable Indicators of Inequality Across Countries
Abstract
This paper addresses the key issue for the GINI project of how best to approach the measurement of income
inequality and wage inequality to enhance comparability across different studies. It focuses first on income in-
equality, dealing with the definition of income, the income recipient unit, and the unit of analysis. The summary
measures used to capture inequality are also discussed, with an emphasis on capturing trends at different points
in the distribution, and sources for comparative data on inequality levels and trends are discussed. The paper then
turns to inequality in earnings among employees and discusses the same set of issues in that context.
The above bears directly on any analysis of inequality itself but it is also important for an analysis of the direct
impacts of inequality at micro-level. For a (multilevel) analysis based on aggregate inequality as an input the paper
provides an understanding of the need for comparable concepts and definitions across countries and links to data
sources as well as aggregate levels. It also links to practical experiences of researchers with different datasets. For
this and the datasets see the Data Portal at gini-research.org
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