Is There Room for Polarization?

Abstract

Polarization is a concept which is defined over the distribution of income. It is clear that it does not fit into the framework of the traditional Bergson-type Social Welfare Function. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the concept can fit into the framework of the theory of Relative Deprivation. It is suggested that it may be incorporated into this theory as representing the power of groups. Copyright 2009 The Author. Journal compilation International Association for Research in Income and Wealth 2009.

Upper Boundedness for the Measurement of Relative Deprivation

“…In the first contribution addressing the quantification of relative deprivation, Yitzhaki (1979) proposes a measure which is equivalent to the absolute Gini index—the product of mean income in society and the Gini index of inequality. Building upon Runciman's remark that “The magnitude of a relative deprivation is the extent of the difference between the desired situation and that of the person desiring it” (1966, p. 10), Hey and Lambert (1980) provide an alternative motivation for Yitzhaki's result by extending his approach to the utility space and considering interpersonal comparisons explicitly (see also Yitzhaki, 1980, 2010).…”