The Economic Journal
Выпуски:
Опубликовано на портале: 20-07-2004
James Banks, Paul Johnson
The Economic Journal.
1994.
Vol. 104.
No. 425.
P. 883-890.
Recent studies have assessed the impact of choice of equivalence scale on economists'
measurement of the equivalent income distribution. One particular study (Coulter,
Cowell and Jenkins (1992)) has found that equivalence scales used in the UK official
statistics `provide lower estimates of the extent of inequality and poverty than
do other scales'. In this paper we demonstrate that these kind of results are dependent
on the particular year of data and equivalence scale specification that is used and
are not properties intrinsic to particular methodologies. Results are also not robust
to the use of more recent UK microeconomic data.
Опубликовано на портале: 20-07-2004
Stephen P. Jenkins, Frank A. Cowell
The Economic Journal.
1994.
Vol. 104.
No. 425.
P. 891-900.
We respond to Banks and Johnson's (1994) Comment on Coulter et al. (1992) drawing
on a more general discussion of parametric equivalence scale and scale relativity
issues and new empirical results. We show that criticisms of our earlier work are
unfounded. When the McClements scale is properly characterised, the scale does indeed
provide lower estimates of poverty and inequality levels than most other scales.
We reiterate our conclusion that relationships between scale relativities and inequality
and poverty indices may be index-specific. Moreover the picture about distributional
trends may differ from that about levels.
|
|