The Discovery of the Gini Coefficient

Abstract

This article traces the development of the methods of representing the degree of income inequality that were developed in the early twentieth century by Max Otto Lorenz and Corrado Gini. It suggests that Gini’s efforts to perfect the Lorenz curve may well have facilitated his discovery of what came to be known as the Gini coefficient and argues that this coefficient is an important example of a multiple (or chain multiple) discovery.