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A lorenz curve based index of income stratification

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The Review of Black Political Economy

Conclusion

This paper introduced a method of calculating the proportion, and its standardized index, of the GINI coefficient that is due to the overlapping of the incomes of different groups in a population. This Lorenz curvebased index measures the degree to which all groups, collectively, form different strata in a population as opposed to the degree to which an individual group forms a stratum in the population. It is useful for describing the degree of integration or segregation in a population as opposed to the degree of integration or segregation of a group within a population.

The new index was applied to distributions of wage and salary income for individuals and family income for households. The results indicate that racial/ethnic income stratification is more marked among men than women.

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Warner, G. A lorenz curve based index of income stratification. Rev Black Polit Econ 28, 41–57 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02717269

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