Palma Ratio
The Palma ratio measures income inequality as the ratio of the income share held by the richest 10 percent of the population to the share held by the poorest 40 percent. It rests on the empirical regularity, documented by Gabriel Palma, that the middle deciles (5 through 9) capture a remarkably stable half of national income across countries, so that inequality is essentially a contest between the top and the bottom — the 'tails' of the distribution.
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Sources
- Cobham, A., & Sumner, A. (2014). Is inequality all about the tails? The Palma measure of income inequality. Significance, 11(1), 10–13. DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-9713.2014.00718.x ↗
- Palma, J. G. (2011). Homogeneous middles vs. heterogeneous tails, and the end of the 'inverted-U': it's all about the share of the rich. Development and Change, 42(1), 87–153. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01694.x ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Palma Ratio of Income Inequality. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/sociology/palma-ratio
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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