Calculating the Atkinson Inequality Index e.g. with respect to regional income
Usage
atkinson(x, epsilon = 0.5, na.rm = TRUE)
Arguments
x
A numeric vector (e.g. dataset of regional income)
epsilon
A single value of the \(\epsilon\) weighting coefficient (default: at.epsilon = 0.5)
na.rm
logical argument that indicates whether NA values should be excluded before computing results
Value
A single numeric value of the Atkinson Inequality Index (\(0 < AI < 1\)).
Details
The Atkinson Inequality Index (\(AI\)) varies between 0 (no inequality/concentration) and 1 (complete inequality/concentration). It can be used for economic inequality and/or regional disparities (Portnov/Felsenstein 2010).
References
Portnov, B.A./Felsenstein, D. (2010): “On the suitability of income inequality measures for regional analysis: Some evidence from simulation analysis and bootstrapping tests”. In: Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 44, 4, p. 212-219.