Multiple measurements muddle global inequality debate

Subject

The impact of the proliferation on inequality measurements.

Significance

The gap between the rich and everyone else has become a political battleground across economies. Studies evaluating the distribution of income, its determinants and its changes have proliferated and the number of measures used have expanded. In particular, new indicators have been proposed to reflect income concentration at the top. However, the proliferation of indicators and inequality dimensions has resulted in confusion regarding what we are measuring and why -- even as populist calls for policy measures to reduce income and wealth inequalities increase.

Impacts

• A multitude of inequality measurements can result in contradictory findings and obfuscate the most significant problems.
• This can lead to ineffective policy-making.
• Distinguishing more clearly between inequality at the top and other types of inequality would help produce better studies.