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Atkinson Index×Index of Dissimilarity×
FieldSociologySociology
FamilyProcess / pipelineProcess / pipeline
Year of origin19701955
OriginatorAnthony Barnes AtkinsonOtis Dudley Duncan & Beverly Duncan
TypeWelfare-based, parameterized inequality indexIndex of evenness of two groups across units
Seminal sourceAtkinson, A. B. (1970). On the measurement of inequality. Journal of Economic Theory, 2(3), 244–263. DOI ↗Duncan, O. D., & Duncan, B. (1955). A methodological analysis of segregation indexes. American Sociological Review, 20(2), 210–217. DOI ↗
AliasesAtkinson inequality measure, Atkinson's A, welfare-based inequality indexdissimilarity index, Duncan index, D index, segregation index
Related55
SummaryThe Atkinson index is a welfare-based measure of inequality that incorporates an explicit, analyst-chosen parameter for how much society dislikes inequality. Introduced by Anthony Atkinson in 1970, it asks what fraction of total income could be discarded, under an equal distribution, while leaving social welfare unchanged — making the ethical judgement behind any inequality comparison transparent rather than hidden.The index of dissimilarity, often called the Duncan segregation index, measures how unevenly two groups — such as two racial or occupational groups — are distributed across a set of units like neighborhoods, schools, or occupations. It ranges from 0, when both groups have identical distributions across units, to 1, when the units are completely segregated, and has the intuitive interpretation of the share of one group that would have to relocate to achieve an even distribution.
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ScholarGateCompare methods: Atkinson Index · Index of Dissimilarity. Retrieved 2026-06-24 from https://scholargate.app/en/compare