ABSTRACT
Initiated by Esteban and Ray (1991, 1994), Foster and Wolfson (1992) and Wolfson (1994), there has been a recent upsurge of interest in the measurement of polarization 1 and in the use of such measures as a correlate of different aspects of socioeconomic performance. It seems fairly widely accepted that polarization is a concept that is distinct from inequality, and that—at least in principle—it could be connected with several aspects of social, economic, and political change. 2
