Measuring the Socio-Economic Bipolarization Phenomenon

by Stefanescu, Stefan
Published in Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting, 2008, volume 9 issue 1, 149-161

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Abstract

The present paper emphasizes the differences between the Gini concentration coefficient [13] and a new bipolarization index proposed by [20], [21]. In practice, the Gini index is applied frequently to determine the poverty degree of the persons of a given population P. Although the pauperization and the polarization social phenomena are often very strong related, we shall prove that the bipolarization level of the individuals of P cannot be always accurately estimated by applying the classical Gini measure. Therefore, for evaluating the intensity of a polarization event is not adequate to use the Gini-type coefficients based on the Lorenz order.

Keywords: Gini coefficient, bipolarization index, Lorenz order, antithetic variables, bounded exponential distributions
JEL Classification: C43, C46, C51, C52