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Comments on: NZ inequality statistics: Some of the research http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2013/11/26/nz-inequality-statistics-some-of-the-research/ The Visible Hand in Economics Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:33:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Matt Nolan http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2013/11/26/nz-inequality-statistics-some-of-the-research/#comment-42515 Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:33:00 +0000 http://www.tvhe.co.nz/?p=10441#comment-42515 In reply to Donal Curtin.

Heya,

Indeed, I picked it was a bit tongue in cheek – but it was a good lauching pad for a post I was writing anyway! I love it when that sort of stuff happens!

The issue of inequality is fraught with ambiguities, and without considering the equity-efficiency trade-off societies care about we can’t say too much. I am a touch surprised to see how much the issue has been jumped on around the world and in NZ. Keeps economists busy though!

]]> By: Donal Curtin http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2013/11/26/nz-inequality-statistics-some-of-the-research/#comment-42514 Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:54:00 +0000 http://www.tvhe.co.nz/?p=10441#comment-42514 My post about New Zealand’s “reduction” in income inequality was (I confess) slightly tongue in cheek – the key period for changes in New Zealand inequality (as you note) was in the decade leading up to 1995, rather than the period since (which was chosen by the OECD). Even so, I was somewhat surprised that aggregate OECD inequality didn’t appear to rise since 1995, and either stabilised or fell slightly in NZ, depending on how you look at it, given that for most of the period there was bloat at the top end of the income distribution. Incidentally one of the points the OECD noted was that “Eastern European and Nordic countries display the lowest income inequalities. However it was in the latter that income inequalities rose the most in the past 15 years, a trend which has been observed though to a smaller extent in many other European countries…”. It seems to me that the Nordic countries were also likely revisiting the calibration of that “equity-efficiency trade-off” you mention, and concluding that redistribution on a Nordic scale was having unacceptably adverse effects on incentives at both ends of the income distribution

]]> By: Matt Nolan http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2013/11/26/nz-inequality-statistics-some-of-the-research/#comment-42513 Mon, 25 Nov 2013 21:36:00 +0000 http://www.tvhe.co.nz/?p=10441#comment-42513 In reply to VMC.

The Gini index is useful for looking at inequality in a given distribution at a point in time – judging that, and figuring out what it means requires a lot of additional pieces of data and assumptions.

]]> By: VMC http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2013/11/26/nz-inequality-statistics-some-of-the-research/#comment-42512 Mon, 25 Nov 2013 20:01:00 +0000 http://www.tvhe.co.nz/?p=10441#comment-42512 I would be interested in some thoughts on whether the Gini measure is actually fit for purpose – in the sort of discussion you are having. One possibility – actual incomes might have got more equal but if costs increased disproportionately on the poor, or govt subsides for the rich increased (for example) then inequality would increase where it mattered, if not in incomes.

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