ABSTRACT
Univariate indices of income inequality provide an inadequate basis on which to compare the inequality of well-being within and between populations. Recognition of this fact has lead to an explosion of research recently on multidimensional economic inequality, beginning with the seminal articles by Kolm (1977) and Atkinson and Bourguignon (1982). These articles are primarily concerned with developing dominance criteria for ranking multivariate distributions. When there are multiple attributes of well-being being compared, one distribution may be more equal than a second if the former exhibits less dispersion than the latter or if it reduces the positive dependence between the individual distributions of the attributes. Kolm focused on the first of these ways in which inequality may manifest itself, whereas Atkinson and Bourguignon focused on the second.
