Measuring Polarization for a Dimension of Human Well-being with Ordinal Significance

Abstract

It is now well-known that human well-being is a multidimensional phenomenon. While some of the dimensions correspond to ratio scale variables (e.g., income, wealth), dimensions like health and literacy statuses are represented by ordinal variables. An ordinal variable is similar to a categorical variable like gender, ethnicity, and religion that has one or more categories or types. However, for an ordinal variable, there is a well-defined ordering rule. The study of polarization for an ordinal dimension of human welfare, using an axiomatic framework, is the subject of Chap. 6 of the book. We scrutinize several indices and a related ordering.