Sequential Comparisons of Generalized Lorenz Curves for Different Demographics

Abstract

Jenkins and Lambert (1993) and Chambaz and Maurin (1998) proposed extensions of the sequential generalized Lorenz dominance (SGL) criterion that was proposed by Atkinson and Bourguignon (1987): the extended version of SGL made it possible to compare distributions for different demographics. However, the tests to check the extended SGL “are not expressible in terms of generalized Lorenz curves” (Lambert 2001, p.79). In this paper, we show that the dominance condition can be easily checked by sequential comparisons of a modified version of the generalized Lorenz curve. We apply this procedure by comparing the income distributions of Italian households using data obtained from the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW, Bank of Italy) from 2006 and 2012