Quantitative methods for inequality measurement

The chapter describes some of the measurement tools that can be used in the quantitative analysis of inequality. Most of the chapter is devoted to the techniques developed for measuring economic inequality, traditionally intended as inequality in income distribution. These methods apply to the measurement of inequality in a single attribute that can be described by a quantitative variable, such as income, wage, wealth, land-ownership, consumption, life expectancy, etc. In addition, the chapter briefly introduces two quantitative methods (Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Latent Class Analysis) that are used to discover and assess inequalities among population groups in multiple dimensions representing non-income factors, often related to gender, ethnicity, social classes, etc. that are described through categorical variables.