AN AXIOMATIZATION OF THE SINGLE-SERIES GINIS

In this paper, characterizations of the single-series Gini social evaluation functions and their illfare-ranked counterparts, functions introduced and discussed by Donaldson and Weymark [10] and Weymark [19], are provided. It is shown that the single-series Ginis (resp. illfare-ranked single-series Ginis) are the only sequences of social evaluation functions allowing for the derivation of both relative and absolute ethical inequality measures which satisfy a high income (resp. low income) group aggregation property. In the case of the illfare-ranked single-series Ginis, the aggregation condition is important for the construction of ethical indices of poverty. © 1990.