Lorenz Curve
The Lorenz curve is a graphical device that displays the full shape of inequality in a distribution by plotting the cumulative share of a quantity (such as income) held by the cumulative share of the population, ranked from poorest to richest. Introduced by Max Lorenz in 1905, it underlies the Gini coefficient and provides the basis for ranking distributions by inequality when one curve lies entirely above another.
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Sources
- Lorenz, M. O. (1905). Methods of measuring the concentration of wealth. Publications of the American Statistical Association, 9(70), 209–219. DOI: 10.2307/2276207 ↗
- Atkinson, A. B. (1970). On the measurement of inequality. Journal of Economic Theory, 2(3), 244–263. DOI: 10.1016/0022-0531(70)90039-6 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Lorenz Curve of Distributional Concentration. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/sociology/lorenz-curve
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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