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Gini coefficient

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"text": "The Gini coefficient is a special tool used by experts. It measures how money is shared among people. This sharing can be about income or total wealth. It can also look at how much people spend.

Economics Gini coefficient2
Economics Gini coefficient2

This tool helps us see if a group is equal. It shows how much a country deviates from a perfect balance. Scientists use it to study social groups and nations. It makes it easier to compare different parts of the world.\n\nTo understand how it works, imagine a line on a graph. This line is called the Lorenz curve. It shows how much income different people have. A straight line represents perfect equality. On this line, everyone has the same amount. The Gini coefficient looks at the space between that straight line and the real curve.

Gini coefficient for distribution with only two income or wealth levels
Gini coefficient for distribution with only two income or wealth levels

We call this space area A. The formula divides area A by the total area under the line. This gives us a single number to describe inequality.\n\nA man named Corrado Gini created this method. He was an Italian statistician and a sociologist. He first wrote about it in a paper in 1912. He built on ideas from an American economist named Max Lorenz.

Global Income Inequality (Gini Index) Over Time
Global Income Inequality (Gini Index) Over Time

In 1914, Gini shared more work on how to measure concentration. Later, in 1915, Gaetano Pietra helped make it a geometric tool. This made the index much more common to use. It is now a standard way to study wealth.\n\nThe scores for the Gini coefficient range from 0 to 1. A score of 0 means perfect equality. This means everyone has the exact same amount. A score of 1 means maximal inequality. In that case, one person has everything.

Global map of high inequality countries, 2022
Global map of high inequality countries, 2022

In the late 20th century, many OECD countries had scores between 0.

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File:Global map of high inequality countries, 2022.png
Global map of high inequality countries, 2022.png
File:Economics Gini coefficient2.svg
Economics Gini coefficient2.svg
File:Gini coefficient for distribution with only two income or wealth levels.svg
Gini coefficient for distribution with...
File:Gini since WWII.svg
Gini since WWII.svg
File:Global Income Inequality (Gini Index) Over Time.jpg
Global Income Inequality (Gini Index)...
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