Copula-based measurement of dependence between dimensions of well-being.

Well-being consists of many dimensions such as income, health and education. A society exhibits greater dependence between its dimensions of well-being when the positions of the individuals in the different dimensions are more aligned or correlated. Differences in dependence may lead to very different societies, even when the dimension-wise distributions are identical. I propose to use a copula-based framework to order societies with respect to their dependence. A class of measures of dependence is derived to which the multidimensional rank correlation coefficient belongs. I illustrate the usefulness of the approach by showing that Russian dependence between three dimensions of well-being has increased significantly between 1995 and 2003. Unfortunately, the aspect of dependence is missed by all composite well-being measures based on dimension-specific summary statistics such as the popular Human Development Index (HDI).

Global inequality: a multidimensional perspective.

This paper investigates the evolution of global well-being inequality between 1980 and 2010 based on three dimensions: income, health and education. The inequality of each of these dimensions shows a different pattern over time. To make an overall assessment of the evolution of well-being inequality, I make use of a recently developed multidimensional inequality index which reflects the implicit value judgments of the revised Human Development Index. Multidimensional well-being inequality has decreased over the considered period. However, this result is shown to depend crucially on the weighting scheme selected, the aggregation procedure and the transformation of the income dimension.

Copula-based orderings of multivariate dependence

In this paper I investigate the problem of defining a multivariate dependence ordering. First, I provide a characterization of the concordance dependence ordering between multivariate random vectors with fixed margins. Central to the characterization is a multivariate generalization of a well-known bivariate elementary dependence increasing rearrangement. Second, to order multivariate random vectors with non- fixed margins, I impose a scale invariance principle which leads to a copula-based concordance dependence ordering. Finally, a wide family of copula-based measures of dependence is characterized to which Spearmanís rank correlation coefficient belongs.copula, concordance ordering, dependence measures, dependence orderings, multivariate stochastic dominance, supermodular ordering

Copula-based measurement of dependence between dimensions of well-being

Well-being consists of many dimensions such as income, health and education. A society exhibits greater dependence between its dimensions of well-being when the positions of the individuals in the different dimensions are more aligned or correlated. Differences in dependence may lead to very different societies, even when the dimension-wise distributions are identical. I propose to use a copula-based framework to order societies with respect to their dependence. A class of measures of dependence is derived to which the multidimensional rank correlation coefficient belongs. I illustrate the usefulness of the approach by showing that Russian dependence between three dimensions of well-being has increased significantly between 1995 and 2003. Unfortunately, the aspect of dependence is missed by all composite well-being measures based on dimension-specific summary statistics such as the popular Human Development Index (HDI).copula, complex inequality, concordance, HDI, multidimensional inequality, Russia, well-being.

Global inequality: a multidimensional perspective

This paper investigates the evolution of global well-being inequality between 1980 and 2010 based on three dimensions: income, health and education. The inequality of each of these dimensions shows a different pattern over time. To make an overall assessment of the evolution of well-being inequality, I make use of a recently developed multidimensional inequality index which reflects the implicit value judgments of the revised Human Development Index. Multidimensional well-being inequality has decreased over the considered period. However, this result is shown to depend crucially on the weighting scheme selected, the aggregation procedure and the transformation of the income dimension.

Copula-based orderings of multivariate dependence

In this paper I investigate the problem of defining a multivariate dependence ordering. First, I provide a characterization of the concordance dependence ordering between multivariate random vectors with fixed margins. Central to the characterization is a multivariate generalization of a well-known bivariate elementary dependence increasing rearrangement. Second, to order multivariate random vectors with non-fixed margins, I impose a scale invariance principle which leads to a copula-based concordance dependence ordering. Finally, a wide family of copula-based measures of dependence is characterized to which Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient belongs.copula, concordance ordering, dependence measures, dependence orderings, multivariate stochastic dominance, supermodular ordering.

What good is happiness?

In this paper we examine whether, and how, welfare economics should incorporate the insights from happiness and satisfaction studies. Our main point is that measuring well-being by reported satisfaction levels can come in conáict with individuals judgments about their own lives and that these individual judgments should be respected. We propose an alternative measure of welfare in terms of equivalent incomes that does respect individual preferences. Satisfaction surveys are useful, however, to derive information about preferences. We illustrate our approach with panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) for the period 1995-2003 and we compare the results for equivalent incomes with the results for subjective satisfaction.happiness, satisfaction, preferences, welfare economics, psychology

The evolution of global inequality: absolute, relative and intermediate views

We compare absolute, relative and intermediate views on the evolution of global inequality between 1980 and 2009. According to the relative view, inequality remains invariant after a uniform proportional change of all incomes whereas the absolute view requires invariance to a uniform change of all incomes with the same amount. We use a generic intermediate view which states that an income distribution is as unequal as another one if it can be obtained as a weighted average of a uniform proportional and a uniform absolute change of the incomes. Using recent data on GDP per capita for 115 countries, we .nd considerable support for the claim that world inequality increased for the absolute view and for intermediate views which move substantially in the direction of the relative view.

The evolution of global inequality: absolute, relative and intermediate views.

We compare absolute, relative and intermediate views on the evolution of global inequality between 1980 and 2009. According to the relative view, inequality remains invariant after a uniform proportional change of all incomes whereas the absolute view requires invariance to a uniform change of all incomes with the same amount. We use a generic intermediate view which states that an income distribution is as unequal as another one if it can be obtained as a weighted average of a uniform proportional and a uniform absolute change of the incomes. Using recent data on GDP per capita for 115 countries, we .nd considerable support for the claim that world inequality increased for the absolute view and for intermediate views which move substantially in the direction of the relative view.