Small Area Estimation of Inequality Measures

In order to estimate inequality measures at local level, small area estimation methods may be used to improve the reliability of estimates when the sample size is low. Small area models specified at area level, incorporate the design based estimates (direct estimates) as inputs, that are typically unbiased even though unreliable for small samples. Nevertheless, in the case of inequality measures, design based estimates are instead known to be biased for small sample sizes. In this work we focus on the search for a correction that can produce approximately unbiased direct estimators, taking into account the complexity of the survey design. We use data taken from the EU-SILC sample survey for Italy in 2013. Those modified estimators can then be used in small areas models.