Atkinson Coefficient (epsilon=0.5)
| Quick info | |
|---|---|
| Data type | Numeric |
| Scale | Metric |
| Value labels | Not applicable |
| Technical name | socstr_atkincoef_eps05 |
| Category | Social structure |
| Label | Atkinson Coefficient (epsilon=0.5) |
| Related indicators |
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The Atkinson Index, a welfare-based indicator of inequality, shows what proportion of a society's total income would have to be given up in order to have (more) evenly distributed incomes (more equal shares of income among its members). The Index ranges from 0 to 1. This metric is based on society’s aversion to inequality; a higher value indicates entails greater social utility or willingness by individuals to accept smaller incomes in exchange for a more equal distribution. 0.5 is used as the risk aversion parameter epsilon.
Coding rules
The Atkinson Index, along with the risk aversion parameter epsilon (ε) set at 0.5 shows what proportion of a society's total income would have to be given up in order to have (more) evenly distributed incomes (more equal shares of income among its members). The Index ranges from 0 to 1. Atkinson coefficient estimates cover all surveyed households and their members. The index is calculated using the LIS disposable household income data. Disposable Household Income (DHI) is defined as the sum of monetary and non-monetary labor income, monetary capital income, monetary social security transfers (including work-related insurance transfers, universal transfers, and assistance transfers), and non-monetary social assistance transfers, as well as monetary and non-monetary private transfers, minus the amount of income taxes and social transfers. All households where disposable income is missing are excluded. Teorell et al. (2024:1089) define the variable as "Atkinson Index is a welfare-based measure of inequality, representing the percentage of total income that a given society would have to sacrifice in order to have (more) equally distributed incomes (more equal shares of income between its citizens). This measure depends on the degree of society aversion to inequality, where a higher value entails greater social utility or willingness by individuals to accept smaller incomes in exchange for a more equal distribution. In the calculation of this variable, the aversion parameter (epsilon) is set to 0.5."
Bibliographic info
Citation:- Teorell, Jan, Aksel Sundström, Sören Holmberg, Bo Rothstein, Natalia Alvarado Pachon, Cem Mert Dalli, Rafael Lopez Valverde & Paula Nilsson (2024). The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, version Jan24. University of Gothenburg: The Quality of Government Institute, https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government, doi:10.18157/qogstdjan24/li>
- LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg. (2022). LIS inequality and poverty key figures. https://www.lisdatacenter.org/download-key-figures/
- Atkinson, A.B. (1970). On the measurement of inequality, Journal of Economic Theory, 2 (3), pp. 244-263, at:https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0531(70)90039-6
- Neugschwender (2020). Top and Bottom Coding at LIS. LIS - Technical Working Paper Series 9, at: https://www.lisdatacenter.org/wps/techwps/9.pdf
- Kohli, Martin, Künemund, Harald, Schäfer, Andrea, Schupp, Jürgen and Vogel, Claudia (2006). Erbschaften und ihr Einfluss auf die Vermögensverteilung, in: Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung, 75 (1) p.58-76. https://doi.org/10.3790/vjh.75.1.58
Misc
Project manager(s): Responsible for data editing, description (WESIS) and entry: Andrea Schäfer (2021-2025, Version 0.002), Jean-Yves Gerlitz (2018-2020; Version 0.001); Principal Investigator: Irene Dingeldey, Ulrich Mückenberger; Student assistants: Karolin Meyer (2018-2020)
Data release:- Version 0.001: Initial release with data The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, version Jan19
- Version 0.002: Updated with data from The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, version January 2024
Revisions: No revisions yet
Sources
- Teorell, Jan, Stefan Dahlberg, Sören Holmberg, Bo Rothstein, Natalia Alvarado Pachon and Richard Svensson. 2019. The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, version Jan19. University of Gothenburg: The Quality of Government Institute. http://www.qog.pol.gu.se doi:10.18157/qogstdjan19
- Teorell, Jan and Sundström, Aksel and Holmberg, Sören and Rothstein, Bo and Alvarado Pachon, Natalia and Dalli, Cem Mert and Lopez Valvarde, Rafael and Nilsson, Paula (2024). The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, version Jan24. University of Gothenburg: The Quality of Government Institute, Available at: https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government/qog-data/data-downloads/standard-dataset
- LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg. (2022). LIS inequality and poverty key figures. https://www.lisdatacenter.org/download-key-figures
