1. It is important to point to a remaining but insurmountable limitation that the surrounds the use of the Gini index in general. Specifically, as Carlin and Reinsel point out, because the Gini coefficient measures only relative equality without consideration of the absolute level of income, it is possible to find poverty rates that are higher in a population for which incomes are equally distributed than in one for which incomes are unequal, but much higher. Kinsey discusses the axioms that underlie the use of the Gini coefficient. According to the study, while these axioms allow for the interpretation that a Gini coefficient of .5 as representing income that is less equally distributed than .4, it does not provide information about how each distribution is skewed or who won and who lost, which is central to policy makers in their debate regarding the welfare of income earners.
2. Changes in the Distribution of Income and Wealth of Farm Households: Evidence from Wisconsin Panel Data
3. The Impact of Income Components on the Distribution of Family Incomes;Shorrocks;Quarterly Journal of Economics,1983
4. The Impact of Local Labor Market Conditions on the Off-Farm Earnings of Farm Operators;Gunter;Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics,1990
5. The Distribution of Income by Factor Components;Pyatt;Quarterly Journal of Economics,1980