Equity by the Numbers: Measuring Poverty, Inequality, and Injustice

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 551 I. EQUITY METRICS: AN OVERVIEW .......................................................... 559 A. Inequality Metrics .................................................................... 560 B. Social Welfare Functions ......................................................... 566 C. Poverty Metrics ....................................................................... 569 D. Social-Gradient Metrics .......................................................... 573 E. A Summary ............................................................................... 576 II.WHY THE PIGOU-DALTON PRINCIPLE? A GENERIC JUSTIFICATION ...... 579 III.WHAT IS THE BEST CURRENCY FOR THE PIGOU-DALTON PRINCIPLE? ...................................................................................... 583 IV.SHOULD THE PIGOU-DALTON PRINCIPLE BE “RESTRICTED”? HEREIN OF POVERTY AND SOCIAL-GRADIENT METRICS ................ 592 A. Poverty Metrics ....................................................................... 593 B. Social-Gradient Metrics .......................................................... 596 V.EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY METRICS .................................................. 599 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 606