Upper Boundedness for the Measurement of Relative Deprivation

Abstract

A new index of relative deprivation is derived axiomatically. Thanks to an asymptotically concave individual contribution function, the new measure provides a sounder quantification to the concept of relative deprivation as conceptualized in the seminal work of Runciman (1966 ) and better reflects the sociological connotations of the phenomenon. Copyright 2010 The Author. Review of Income and Wealth 2010 International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.

A Class of Proximity-Sensitive Measures of Relative Deprivation

“…The main difference between five of these six contributions and the generalization presented in this paper is that the indices proposed by Chakravarty and Chakroborty (1984), Paul (1991), and Wang and Tsui (2000) are not derived from axioms; the perspective pursued by Esposito (2010) is not based on the income shortfall; and the index proposed by Bossert and D'Ambrosio (2007) adheres to the equal weights convention. Only the generalization offered by Bossert and D'Ambrosio (2014) derives axiomatically a class of proximity-sensitive measures of relative deprivation based on income shortfalls.…”

“…proposed: Chakravarty and Chakroborty (1984), Paul (1991), Wang and Tsui (2000), D'Ambrosio (2007, 2014), and Esposito (2010). The main difference between five of these six contributions and the generalization presented in this paper is that the indices proposed by Chakravarty and Chakroborty (1984), Paul (1991), and Wang and Tsui (2000) are not derived from axioms; the perspective pursued by Esposito (2010) is not based on the income shortfall; and the index proposed by Bossert and D'Ambrosio (2007) adheres to the equal weights convention.…”

“…The index proposed by Esposito (2010) incorporates the consideration of an upper boundedness of a relative deprivation measure, which can be perceived as a boundary placed on the space that accommodates the reference group. The empirical study by Quintana-Domeque and Wohlfart (2016) …”

Proximity-sensitive individual deprivation measures

“…Contributions that are close to our own as far as the feasibility issue is concerned include those of Paul (1991), Chakravarty and Chattopadhyay (1994), Podder (1996) and Esposito (2010). Among these, Esposito (2010) is the only one that provides a characterization of the individual deprivation index that is being proposed.…”

“…Among these, Esposito (2010) is the only one that provides a characterization of the individual deprivation index that is being proposed. All of these authors abandon the income shortfall approach in the sense that they either operate within a utility shortfall framework as that mentioned in Hey and Lambert (1980) or focus on income ratios rather than income differences.…”