Ranking Income Distributions in Poland

摘要

Comparing income distributions from a point of view of social welfare we must take into consideration both the level of average income and the level of inequality. Income inequality can be compared by means of the well known Lorenz curves but the results will be ambiguous when the Lorenz functions for the considered population intersect. Quantile functions and generalized Lorenz curves are more useful tools for ranking income distributions but they are also more restrictive. In many situations it is necessary to make additional assumptions concerning social preferences which can be reflected in a social welfare function. In the paper we present the results of the application of the methods mentioned above to the analysis of income distributions in Poland. As a theoretical distribution the Dagum type-I model was used.