Measuring Inequality by Counting ‘Complaints’: Theory and Empirics

Abstract

This paper examines how people assess inequality of an income distribution and how inequality could be measured. We start from philosophical analysis of L. Temkin who distinguishes nine plausible aspects of inequality. His approach is based on the concept of 'complaints' or distances between incomes. We examine the Temkin approach by means of the questionnaire-experimental method pioneered by Amiel and Cowell. We want to find out whether the aspects of equality have any plausibility for student-respondents and if so, whether there are any aspects which are more appealing than others. Both the numerical and verbal responses show that a considerable majority of the respondents might be influenced by the intuitions included in the combination of the Weighted Additive Principle and the Average view of complaints. The questionnaire results also shed some light towards the Sequence and provide support for the poll result of the Temkin reports. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Income Inequalities: Axioms of Income Inequality Measures and People's Perceptions

“…After each verbal question, respondents are encouraged to rethink their answers to the numerical question(s) concerning the same axiom. Studies deviating from this standard are rare -these are either based on different theoretical structures (for instance : Devooght, 2003) or mimicking research on perception of welfare and risk (for instance : Bernasconi, 2002), or significant modifications of Amiel and Cowell's methodology (own research).…”

The social welfare function and individual responsibility: Some theoretical issues and empirical evidence

“…In an extensive programme of research over many years, Amiel and Cowell (1999) have, in various ways, asked respondents to choose between different distributions of income in order to explore the extent to which axioms used in the income distribution literature are supported by the lay public. Devooght (2003) has used similar questions to explore popular support for different aspects of inequality. The results from these studies can be used to determine the SWF for income.…”

Back to Bismarck? Shifting Preferences for Intragenerational Redistribution in OECD Pension Systems

“…Inequality aversion that is driven by the complaints of the poor about their situation in relation to that of the rich should therefore be higher in the treatment with a positively skewed income distribution. Note that Devooght (2003) found experimental support for Temkin's model, too.…”

“…The link between relative deprivation and a society's degree of inequality aversion was highlighted by the philosopher Temkin (1986Temkin ( , 1993 who argued that inequality aversion was driven by the complaints of the poor about their situation in relation to that of the rich. Devooght (2003) found experimental support for Temkin's model. Seidl et al (2006) used Parducci's (1965, 1968, 1974, 1982 range-frequency theory in order to experimentally investigate the context dependence of the assessment of income distributions.…”