An axiomatization of the single-series Ginis (Q912749)

The paper characterizes single series Gini social evaluation functions (i.e., series of the form \[ \Xi^ n(y)=\sum^{n}_{i=1}a_ i\tilde y_ i/\sum^{n}_{i=1}a_ i \text{ for every } n \text{ and } y\in R^ n_+\setminus \{\b O\}, \] where \(\tilde y\) is the permutation of y such that \(\tilde y_ 1\geq \dots \geq \tilde y_ n)\). The paper shows that these are the only sequences of social evaluation functions where it is possible to derive both relative and absolute ethical inequality measures satisfying a high income group aggregation property. Illfare ranking functions are also discussed, and the results concerning these functions are parallel to those obtained for the Gini functions.