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Robust International Comparisons of Distributions of Disposable Income and Regional Public Goods
Author(s) -
GRAVEL NICOLAS,
MOYES PATRICK,
TARROUX BENOÎT
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2008.00688.x
Subject(s) - unanimity , public good , dominance (genetics) , ranking (information retrieval) , economics , normative , stochastic dominance , international comparisons , econometrics , public economics , microeconomics , political science , economic growth , law , biochemistry , chemistry , machine learning , computer science , gene
The paper provides robust normative comparisons of 12 OECD countries based on their distributions of disposable income and access to two regional public goods: infant mortality and pupil–teacher ratios at public schools. Comparisons are performed using two and three‐dimensional dominance criteria that coincide with the unanimity of utilitarian judgments taken over specific classes of utility functions. The criteria succeed in ranking conclusively about 30% of all possible comparisons in the two‐dimensional case, compared with 67% for one‐dimensional income‐based comparisons and 6% for three‐dimensional ones. Introducing local public goods seems to worsen the relative standing of Anglo‐Saxon countries.