Mean Logarithmic Deviation Research Articles

Beyond Dollars and Scars: The Influence of Wealth Inequality on Total Expenditure on Cosmetic Procedures in the United States.

The present study delves into the "beauty paradox," a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by wealth inequality, societal norms, and consumer behaviors, specifically regarding spending on cosmetic procedures. Relying on data from the United States Census Bureau and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the research primarily focuses on the Gini coefficient, Mean Logarithmic Deviation (MLD), and income data for the lowest and top 5% quintiles of mean household income over a 15-year span. The analysis uncovers a significant correlation between Total Expenditures on Cosmetic Surgery and minimally invasive procedures and the wealth of the top 5% income quintile. The "Cosmetic Enhancement Cycle (CEC)" is proposed, indicating a symbiotic growth between wealth accumulation among the affluent and the plastic surgery industry. As such, the "beauty paradox" lays bare the multifaceted consequences of wealth inequality, necessitating a comprehensive approach that addresses socioeconomic dynamics, accessibility of cosmetic procedures, societal norms, and perceptions. This investigation underscores the imperative for further exploration into the myriad ways that wealth inequality sculpts societies and influences behaviors, including within the context of the CEC.

Land inequality and landlessness in Pakistan: Measuring the diverse nature of land disparities

Measuring the precise nature and causes of land inequality is critical for addressing and implementing policy initiatives related to agricultural productivity, rural development and within-country income distribution. In this study, we argue that measuring land inequality solely among land owners does not provide a complete picture of land allocation among agricultural actors. We analyze land inequality (with or without the inclusion of landless peasants) as well as landlessness to present a holistic picture of land inequality across all districts of Pakistan. We employ data on 152,582 farm households from two rounds of the district-representative Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey to construct Gini and Mean Logarithmic Deviation (MLD) indicators of land inequality and decompose it into within- and between-district inequalities. We found that inequalities measured without including landless peasants portray different picture of land disparities than that based on measures of inequality including landless workers. Our main findings are four-fold: 1) Land inequality measured including landless peasants is much higher (Gini = 0.84) than that without them (Gini = 0.67), and has increased much more between 2007 and 2015 when landless peasants are included (6%) than when measured without them (1%). 2) In 22% of the districts, land inequality without landless peasants decreased between 2007 and 2015 while that measured without them increased. The opposite is true in 5% of the districts. 3) Land inequality without landless workers is higher in irrigated and humid regions with better soil quality and rough terrain while inequality with landless workers is higher in more arid and semi-arid districts. Districts with rough topography face less landlessness in the presence of predominantly-smallholder farms, whereas more fertile soil is associated with higher landlessness. 4) Districts based on Pashtun tribal ancestral land distribution rights have the lowest rates of landlessness (20%) while districts with pre-colonial Zamindari-based land distribution show the highest incidence of landlessness (66%). The findings highlight the need for robust tenancy reforms in districts with humid climate, higher land inequality and lower landlessness in order to provide land tenure security to landless tenants and protect them from force eviction by powerful landed elites. Use of information technology in registering land rights through geo-coordinates can be helpful in improving land security and the expansion of the agricultural land markets. Besides, there is a greater need of land redistribution in the southern and south-western districts where landlessness is high despite relatively low extent of land inequality.

An Innovative decision-making scheme for the high-quality economy development driven by higher education

It is essential to adhere to innovative leadership and teach students in accordance with their aptitude through the sustainable development of higher education. Promoting high-quality development of local universities is demanded and needed for the adaptive talent in this new era. This work aims to explore how high-quality higher education can provide innovative decision-making solutions for economic development in the digital economy (DE) era. First, the role of higher education in economic development is analysed. Then, the importance of human capital cultivated by higher education to economic development is explained. The innovations are as follows. (1) A high-quality economic development index system in the Yangtze River Basin is established according to the requirements of quality change, dynamic change, and efficiency change in the economic development of the Yangtze River Economic Zone (YREZ). (2) The entropy weight method in intelligent decision-making and TOPSIS sorting technology are used to study the dynamic relationship between DE development and the premium-quality economic advance of the provinces and cities in the YREZ from 2015 to 2021. (3) The analysis part adopts three indicators of mean logarithmic deviation, Theil index, and the Gini coefficient to discuss the regional differences in economic development. Finally, a targeted development strategy is proposed. The results indicate that the DE level of each province in the YREZ in recent years has reached a maximum of 3.9309 and a minimum of 0.2844. The economic development of each province is relatively different, and the level of development is uneven. The overall Moran's I of the premium-quality economic development level of the YREZ in recent years is greater than 0, passing the significance test. This result suggests a positive spatial autocorrelation between them. The research provides data support for the formulation of economic development strategies for the YREZ in the future and reflects the key role of higher education in human capital training and economic development.

Decomposed Trends of Iranian Private Health Expenditures: Should Inequality be Appreciated?

Background: Inequalities in health and health care have drawn considerable attention in social determinants of health literature. This study aims to calculate the inequality of out-of-pocket health payments (OPHP) for Iranian households during the period 1984 to 2019 and provide decomposed inequality for households with different socioeconomic status. Methods: This longitudinal study utilized the Iranian Statistics Centre data on Iranian household income and expenditures survey. The analysis includes a total of 995,300 households during a 36-year period from 1984 to 2019. The Theil index and the mean logarithmic deviation were used to decompose inequality into within-group and between-group for OPHP among Iranian households. Results: The findings indicate that the mean of the Theil index for the households covered by insurance is 1.44 (SD ± 0.34), while the index was 1.35 (SD ± 0.31) for households without insurance coverage. The mean of the Theil index for rural and urban households was 1.29 (SD ± 0.29) and 1.43 (SD ± 0.33), respectively. Regardless of the fluctuations, the trends of between- group and within group inequalities in OPHP were almost similar until 2011, but they followed a different path since then. Conclusion: Households living in cities, households with insurance coverage, and households in high income levels have experienced more inequality in OPHP than other households. This study provides a novel interpretation of inequality in health care expenditures and provides a long-term time series data to assess the effectiveness of implemented policies in health care system.

In Pursuit of Happiness: How Realistic is the American Dream? Understanding and Seizing Inequality

Abstract Recognized as the land of the free, the United States has provided the economic stage for many to craft their slice of the American dream. More questionable is that about 11.4% of its citizens are living below the national poverty line despite the national wealth. However, the acceptance that poverty for some is an unfortunate consequence of free markets is present among a strong majority of the American population. By using a ballpark method from, the Gini Coefficient, Equivalence Adjustment, and Mean Logarithmic Deviation, this study illustrates how persistent income inequality is a result of class warfare – a socioeconomic competition among the social classes which plays a vital role in the pursuit of the American Dream. The study recommends that to restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, the government needs to make sure that everyone plays by the same set of rules. Tackling high inequalities will create opportunities for all, and education should become a fundamental right for all and not a privilege for the few.

Role of Age and Education as the Determinant of Income Inequality in Poland: Decomposition of the Mean Logarithmic Deviation.

Measures of inequality can be used to illustrate inequality between and within groups, but the choice of the appropriate measure can have different implications. This study focused on the Mean Logarithmic Deviation, the measure proposed by Theil and based on the techniques of statistical information theory. The MLD was selected because of its attractive properties: fulfillment of the principle of monotonicity and the possibility of additive decomposition. The following study objectives were formulated: (1) to assess the degree of inequality in the population and in the distinguished subgroups, (2) to determine the extent to which education and age influence the level of inequality, and (3) to ascertain what factors contribute to changes in the level of inequality in Poland. The study confirmed an association between the level of education and the average income of the groups distinguished on this basis. The education level of the household head remains an important determinant of household income inequality in Poland, despite the decline in the “educational bonus”. The study also found that differences in the age of the household head had a smaller effect on income inequality than the level of education. However, it can be concluded that the higher share of older people may contribute to an increase in income inequality between groups, as the income from pension in Poland is more homogeneous than the income from work in younger groups. Moreover, the current paper seeks to situate Theil’s approach in the context of scholarly writings since 1967.

The Effect of Territories on Inequalities of Opportunities for Citizens in China over Their Lives

Inequality has been intensively studied for its role in promoting balanced economic development in China. The territorial inequality of coastal-inland provinces and urban-rural areas has been considered a leading cause of opportunity inequality and unequal individual development in different regions. This research aims to investigate how and to what extent territorial inequality affects personal development. The research also aims to provide a new understanding of inequality by presenting it throughout different life stages, from pre-working age to retirement age. Also, the research aims to evaluate the changes in data in terms of policies implemented by the Chinese government. The research method includes a series of econometrics tools. The research has adopted Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression to analyse selected data from the most up-to-date survey years, from 2000 to 2015. To reflect the opportunity inequality, the study uses the ratio of the Gini coefficient from regression and the Gini coefficient from the sample. The Theil index is used to measure regional disparity, and the Mean Logarithmic Deviation Index is used to measure income inequality. The study also examines the correlation between different dependent variables to approach a more accurate and representative conclusion. The study conducts the quantitative research successfully and concludes territorial inequality strongly correlates with the inequality of opportunity at education and income levels. Problems at the education level have become more significant yearly, and the disparity in income distribution remains high throughout the period. The extension test supports a weak correlation between education and income, pension and education. The study suggests that the government could allocate more resources and focus on reducing territorial inequality by promoting technological advancement, geographical mobility and a series of welfare policies.

Spatiotemporal Patterns and Influencing Mechanism of Urban Residential Energy Consumption in China

The residential sector has become the second largest energy consumer in China. Urban residential energy consumption (URE) in China is growing rapidly in the process of urbanization. This paper aims to reveal the spatiotemporal dynamic evolution and influencing mechanism of URE in China. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of URE during 2007–2018 is explored through Kernel density estimation and inequality measures (i.e., Gini coefficient, Theil index, and mean logarithmic deviation). Then, with several advantages over traditional index decomposition analysis approaches, the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) decomposition is employed to investigate the impacts of eight driving factors on URE. Furthermore, the national and provincial decoupling relationships between URE and residential income increase are studied. It is found that different provinces’ URE present a significant agglomeration effect; the interprovincial inequality in URE increases and then decreases during the study period. The GDIM decomposition results indicate the income effect is the main positive factor driving URE. Besides, urban population, residential area, per capita energy use, and per unit area energy consumption positively influence URE. By contrast, per capita income, energy intensity, and residential density have negative effects on URE. There is evidence that only three decoupling states, i.e., weak decoupling, strong decoupling, and expansive negative decoupling, appear in China during 2007–2018. Specifically, weak decoupling is the dominant state among different regions. Finally, some suggestions are given to speed up the construction of energy-saving cities and promote the decoupling process of residential energy consumption in China. This paper fills some research gaps in urban residential energy research and is important for China’s policymakers.

Poverty effects of public health reforms in Turkey: A focus on out-of-pocket payments.

Expanded financial coverage is critical to fight against poverty through public health reforms in developing countries. This study explores inequity in public health financing reforms in Turkey between 2003 and 2015. This paper has two parts. The first part examines inequity in health care financing in Turkey between 2003 and 2015. Gini, entropy (Theil and mean logarithmic deviation), and Atkinson indexes were calculated. In the second part of the paper, we investigated the degree of progressivity by using Kakwani index and Lorenz and concentration curves. We found a decreasing trend in terms of inequity. After major public health reforms and unification of the health financing system, it is seen that the distribution of out-of-pocket expenditure on health stands on the shoulders of vulnerable groups. Study results provide a deep understanding of the effects of poverty on public health financing reforms on households in Turkey. To reduce out-of-pocket health spending inequities and to protect vulnerable groups from increasing the level of health expenditures, we suggest that the government enlarges health insurance coverage for the poor.

Неравенство возможностей: роль пространственного фактора

The concept of equal opportunities was shaped on the back of western social philosophy at the end of the XX century as a result of the development of egalitarian theory of social justice. According to it, the determinants of individual achievements should be divided into two categories: ‘circumstances’, which individual has no control on, and ‘efforts’, which individuals should be responsible for. Our research deals with measuring opportunity inequality in the Russian Federation and its regions. The regions of the Russian Federation are well known to be very heterogeneous, consequently, the variation of their social and economic indicators is significant. As a result, the level of opportunity inequality may fluctuate significantly among the regions. Our research is designed to test the hypothesis. The analysis is based on the data from the survey ‘Survey of Income and Participation in Social Programs’ conducted by the Federal state statistics service of the Russian Federation. The estimation technique is parametric and based on the ex-ante definition of equality of opportunity. The mean logarithmic deviation is used as inequality index. According to our calculations, the contribution of opportunity inequality to the labor income inequality in Russia is approximately 30%. Spatial factors (region of residence and type of settlement) are responsible for nearly 70% of opportunity inequality. Absolute level of opportunity inequality varies widely among regions – from 0,0117 to 0,0547 in 2017. The contribution of opportunity inequality to inequality of labor income ranges from 7,24 to 27,35% in 2017 across regions. The growth of opportunity inequality is shown to be correlated with the decrease of the economic development rate and the increase of labor income inequality

Inequality and welfare: Some axiomatic characterizations

We characterize social welfare functions, which, under ceteris paribus assumptions, rank income distributions in exactly the same way as the negative of the Atkinson, Kolm–Pollak, and Theil mean logarithmic deviation indices of inequality of income distributions. While the first two characterizations rely on a general social welfare function, the third employs the symmetric utilitarian structure of the welfare function. Implications of several subsets of the set of axioms considered in the paper are also investigated.

Changes in Economic Activity, Skills and Inequality in the Service Economy

This paper aims to understand how wage inequality is associated with different level and kind of skills in service economy. Our logic of argument, changes in economic activity and skills in the service economy, is suggested following our observation on changes in skill by examining the International Standard of Industrial Classification of all Economies (ISIC) and the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). Then we examine how the service sector contributes to total income inequality since the 1980s through conducting a MLD (Mean Logarithmic Deviation) based decomposition analysis with four selected countries, Germany, United States, Sweden and Taiwan, using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database. Overall, the findings suggest that inequality within the service sector contributes most to total inequality. Among the three skill levels in service sector, inequality within the middle skill level contributed most to the total service sector inequality in all four selected countries.

Perturbation Analysis of Indices of Lifespan Variability

A number of indices exist to calculate lifespan variation, each with different underlying properties. Here, we present new formulae for the response of seven of these indices to changes in the underlying mortality schedule (life disparity, Gini coefficient, standard deviation, variance, Theil's index, mean logarithmic deviation, and interquartile range). We derive each of these indices from an absorbing Markov chain formulation of the life table, and use matrix calculus to obtain the sensitivity and the elasticity (i.e., the proportional sensitivity) to changes in age-specific mortality. Using empirical French and Russian male data, we compare the underlying sensitivities to mortality change under different mortality regimes to determine the conditions under which the indices might differ in their conclusions about the magnitude of lifespan variation. Finally, we demonstrate how the sensitivities can be used to decompose temporal changes in the indices into contributions of age-specific mortality changes. The result is an easily computable method for calculating the properties of this important class of longevity indices.

On the Functional Empirical Process and Its Application to the Mutual Influence of the Theil-Like Inequality Measure and the Growth

We set in this paper a coherent theory based on functional empirical processes that allows to consider both the poverty and the inequality indices in one Gaussian field in which the study of the influence of the one over the other is done. We use the General Poverty Index (GPI), that is a class of poverty indices gathering the most common ones and a functional class of inequality measures including the Entropy Measure, the Mean Logarithmic Deviation, the different inequality measures of Atkinson, Champernowne, Kolm and Theil called Theil-Like Inequality Measures (TLIM). Our results are given in a unified approach with respect to the two classes instead of their particular elements. We provide the asymptotic laws of the variations of each class over two given periods and the ratio of the variation and derive confidence intervals for them. Although the variances may seem somehow complicated, we provide R codes for their computations and apply the results for the pseudo-panel data for Senegalwith a simple analysis.

A New Framework of Measuring Inequality: Variable Equivalence Scales and Group-Specific Well-Being Limits – Sensitivity Findings for German Personal Income Distribution 1995-2009

The paper examines sensitivity influences on the German personal income distribution in a time-series perspective as well as in a methodically broad manner. The author discusses the following issues: (1) For the first time, (reference) income-dependent, so-called variable equivalence scales are explicitly and extensively applied in a distributional analysis of German data which causes significant increases of income inequality compared with income-independent, constant equivalence scales. (2) Concerning different demarcations of income areas the pattern of income inequality in Germany 1995-2009 is not distinctively changed in the several variants considered. (3) For three alternative inequality indicators out of the class of Generalized Entropy indicators (mean logarithmic deviation, one of Theil’s measures of entropy, and normalized coefficient of variation), the patterns of income inequality over time are nearly the same. (4) Regarding current monthly household net income versus yearly household net income of the previous year, different patterns with respect to income inequality occur during the ob-served period of time. Especially in the first decade of the 21st century the corresponding pat-terns differ from each other. In a further step the new approach related to income distribution, which incorporates variable equivalence scales, is applied to socio-demographic stratification to exemplarily demonstrate the power of this new approach. All in all, the analyses of the paper refer to the necessity of a rigorous methodological foundation of distributional studies, especially concerning the selection of a set of (preferably variable) equivalence scales, the choice of the inequality indicator, and – not least – of the income variable.

Two Types of Inequality

This article analyzes the mathematical connections between two kinds of inequality: inequality between persons (e.g., income inequality) and inequality between subgroups (e.g., racial inequality). The authors define a general inequality parameter in two-parameter continuous distributions. This parameter governs all measures of personal inequality (e.g., the Gini coefficient) and governs as well the gap (difference or ratio) between the means of subdistributions. It is thus established that in the distributions analyzed here, as personal inequality increases, so does inequality between subgroups. This general inequality parameter also governs Lorenz dominance and all quantities in the decomposition of Theil's mean logarithmic deviation into between-subgroup and within-subgroup components in the Pareto case. Thus, the general inequality parameter captures the ``deep structure'' of inequality. Finally, a whole-distribution graphical tool is introduced for assessing personal and subgroup inequality. Substantively, this work suggests that in societies characterized by special income distributions, whenever inequality disrupts social cohesion, it attacks on two fronts, via subgroup inequality as well as personal inequality.

Measurement of the triethylene glycol solubility in supercritical methane at pressures up to 9 MPa

The solubility of triethylene glycol in supercritical methane was measured at temperatures of 298.15 and 316.75 K and pressures up to 9 MPa using a static saturation apparatus with volume displacement. The relative uncertainty of the experimental data amounts to less than ±12%. The data can be reproduced with reasonable accuracy using the generalized cubic Peng–Robinson as well as the Soave–Redlich–Kwong equations of state in combination with the quadratic mixing rule, whereas two temperature dependent binary interaction parameters were fitted for the referring system. The mean logarithmic deviation for the triethylene glycol solubility in methane is roughly 24.7% in case of the Peng–Robinson, but only 4.6% in case of the Soave–Redlich–Kwong equation of state.

Decomposing Income Inequality and Policy Implications in Rural China

AbstractUsing village data from samples covering 6 provinces, 36 counties and 216 townships, the income inequalities within and between townships in rural China are assessed. The Theil index and the mean logarithmic deviation methods enable us to test income inequality at the township level, and to decompose it into intra‐regional and inter‐regional at county and provincial levels. In the present paper, we also decompose income inequalities between and within the nationally designated poor counties (NDPC). The results show that approximately two‐thirds of the income inequality in rural China would be eliminated if measures and policies were targeted at the county level. This study also confirms the rationale that China's poverty alleviation strategy of focusing on poor counties based on the inequalities between NDPC and non‐NDPC accounts for the most inter‐province inequality.

Inequality-Driven Growth: Unveiling Aggregation Effects in Growth Equations

It is well known from nonlinear aggregation theory that distributions play a central role in the determination of aggregate relations. This paper establishes a bridge between the aggregation and the inequality and growth literature by applying a log-linear aggregation method to a simple heterogeneous AK growth model. The aggregation effect is explicitly captured in the growth equation by the changes of the mean logarithmic deviation (MLD or Theil’s second measure) of the income, implying that increases in income inequality may be unambiguously associated with temporary increases in a country’s growth rate, in agreement with the empirical findings of Forbes (AER, 2000). Consequently, empirical studies of the longrun effects of income inequality may suffer from aggregation bias if the temporary effects of the MLD changes are not considered. The accelerated growth episodes observed in Brazil and China demonstrate that the increase in income inequality may have resulted in substantial temporary increases in the aggregate growth rates experienced by those countries. The author would like to thank P. Miranda and A. Sachsida for helpful comments, and the College of Business Administration at Texas A&M International University for financial support under the Summer Research Grant program. Existing errors are nevertheless the sole responsibility of the author. Corresponding author: Pedro H. Albuquerque, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, 5201 University Blvd., Laredo, TX, 78041-1920. Phone: 956-326-2510. Fax: 956-326-2494. E-mail: pedrohalbuquerque@yahoo.com.

The Impact of Minimum Wages on Wage Inequality and Employment in the Formal and Informal Sector in Costa Rica

This paper tests the impact of the Costa Rican minimum wage policy on wage inequality and the level of employment in the formal sector (covered by minimum wage legislation) and the informal (uncovered) sector. We also examine the redistributive effects of the minimum wage, between the covered sector and the uncovered sector. Regression analysis using micro data from the Labour Force Surveys over 17 years reveals three important findings. At the median, a unit increase in the minimum wage relative to the average wage is associated with: a) a reduction in wage inequality in the covered sector of between 0.9 percent (using the Gini) and 1.7 percent (using the Theil mean logarithmic deviation) and there is no effect on earnings inequality among the self-employed (using all measures); b) an increase in the level of covered sector employment by 0.56 percent, but no effect on the number of self-employed over time; c) an increase in the average number of hours worked per week by 0.14 percent in the covered sector and 0.34 percent in the uncovered sector. From a theoretical perspective, these finds are counter to the traditional competitive two-sector models of the minimum wage. We interpret them as supporting the monopsonistic and efficiency wage models of the labour market in those industries where the ratio of the minimum wage to the average wage (toughness) is low but supports the traditional models in those industries where toughness is high. Given that we found overall employment to have increased, minimum wages could be seen as assisting the reallocation of labour from the traditional to the more modern sectors.