Cities and Inequality

Authors

  • Alessandra Michelangeli University of Milan-Bicocca, Department of Economics, Statistics and Management (DEMS) http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6802-6870
  • Eugenio Peluso University of Verona, Department of Economics

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18335/region.v3i2.129

Keywords:

Inequality

Abstract

We propose an innovative methodology to measure inequality between cities. If an even distribution of amenities across cities is assumed to increase the average well-being in a given country, inequality between cities can be evaluated through a multidimensional index of the Atkinson (1970) type. This index is shown to be decomposabe into the sum of inequality indices computed on the marginal distributions of the amenities across cities, plus a residual term accounting for their correlation. We apply this methodology to assess inequality between Italian cities in terms of the distribution of public infrastructures, local services, economic and environmental conditions.

Author Biographies

Alessandra Michelangeli, University of Milan-Bicocca, Department of Economics, Statistics and Management (DEMS)

Alessandra Michelangeli is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Milan-Bicocca. Her research focuses on urban quality of life, multidimensional wellbeing, inequality and measurement of wealth.

Eugenio Peluso, University of Verona, Department of Economics

Eugenio Peluso is Professor of Economics at the University of Verona and research associate at Statistics Norway. His research focuses on inequality measurement, equality of opportunity, political economy, and voting theory.

References

Abul Naga, R.H. Geoffard, P.-Y. (2006) “Decomposition of bivariate inequality indices by attributes”, Economic Letters, 90, 362-367.

Aaberge, A., Bhullera, M., Langørgena A., Mogstad, M. (2010) "The distributional impact of public services when needs differ", Journal of Public Economics, 94, 549-562.

Becker, G.S., Philipson, T.J., Soares, R.R., 2005. “The quantity and quality of life and the evolution of world inequality”. American Economic Review, 95 (1), 277–291.

Brambilla, M.R. and Peluso,E.,2010 “A remark on“Decomposition of bivariate inequality indices by attributes by Abul Naga and Geoffard”, Economic Letters 108 (1), 100.

Brambilla, M.R., Michelangeli A., and Peluso E. (2013) "Equity in the City: On Measuring Urban (Ine)quality of Life," Urban Studies, 50(16), pp. 3205-3224.

Brambilla, M.R., Michelangeli A., and Peluso E. (2015) “Cities, equity and quality of life”, in Michelangeli, A. (ed.) Quality of Life in Cities: Equity, Sustainable Development and Happiness from a Policy Perspective, chapter 2, 91-109, Routledge, Series: Routledge Advances in Regional Economics, Science and Policy.

Colombo, E., Michelangeli, A., and Stanca, L. (2014) “La Dolce Vita: Hedonic Estimates of Quality of Life in Italian Cities”, Regional Studies, 48(8), pp. 1404-1418.

Croci Angelini, E., and Michelangeli, A. (2012) “Axiomatic Measurement of multidimensional well-being inequality: Some distributional questions”, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 41, 548-557.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). (2008) State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009, Harmonious Cities, Earthscan, London, UK.

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Published

2016-09-27

How to Cite

Michelangeli, A. and Peluso, E. (2016) “Cities and Inequality”, REGION. Vienna, Austria, 3(2), pp. 47–60. doi: 10.18335/region.v3i2.129.

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles
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Copyright (c) 2016 Alessandra Michelangeli, Eugenio Peluso

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