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Title: On Economic Inequality by Amartya Sen, James E. Foster ISBN: 0-19-828193-5 Publisher: Clarendon Pr Pub. Date: March, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)
Rating: 3
Summary: A key to evaluating inequality
Comment: I learned a lot from Sen's and Foster's book. It is an important key to the understanding of inequality measures. Especially the welfare funcion seems to be a much better measure to describe income than the average per capita income.
I, however, have one objection. Sen is careful enough not to completely reject Theil's formula (see formula 2.11 in "On Economic Inequality"). And although Sen and James E. Foster are puzzled by the application of entropy to economics, they seemingly also feel, that it is interesting enough to be discussed.
Unfortunately though, Sen called Theil's formula not only "interesting", but also "arbitrary". Here is an example for how Sen's further comments on Theil's measure successfully inhibited other researchers to develop an understanding for entropy measures. "Sen ... describes the major flaw in T very nicely when he states that it 'is not a measure that is exactly overflowing with intuitive sense'. Why then would econometricians - or anyone else - want to use T?" This response (from a participant from Macquarie University, 1991 Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education) is regrettable. I wish, Sen and Foster would reevaluate entropy measures and their application to the measurement of inequality.
"Intuitive" understanding of entropy is rare. (That is why confusing entropy problems with energy problems is common.) The major flaw in evaluating entropy measures often is lack of common knowledge in physics as well as lack of intuition. If sociologists and economists don't trust physicists or engineers, they at least should observe how the "Shannon index" is used in statistical ecology.
As for economics, you find excellent examples for how to use Theil's measure in James K. Galbraith's "Created Unequal" (1998, ISBN 0-684-84988-7).
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Title: Inequality Reexamined by Amartya Sen ISBN: 0674452569 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Commodities and Capabilities by Amartya Sen ISBN: 0195650387 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen ISBN: 0385720270 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 15 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: On Ethics and Economics by Amartya Sen ISBN: 0631164014 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: March, 1989 List Price(USD): $38.95 |
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Title: Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation by Amartya Sen ISBN: 0198284632 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: February, 1984 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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