A new approach to the measurement of polarization for grouped data

• Main Authors: BOMSDORF, Eckart, OTTO, Clemens A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: Income polarization; Income distribution; Finance and Financial Management; Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5376; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6375/viewcontent/101007_2Fs10182_007_0027_0.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In this paper we develop a measure of polarization for discrete distributions of non-negative grouped data. The measure takes into account the relative sizes and homogeneities of individual groups as well as the heterogeneities between all pairs of groups. It is based on the assumption that the total polarization within the distribution can be understood as a function of the polarizations between all pairs of groups. The measure allows information on existing groups within a population to be used directly to determine the degree of polarization. Thus the impact of various classifi- cations on the degree of polarization can be analysed. The treatment of the distribution’s total polarization as a function of pairwise polarizations allows statements concerning the effect of an individual pair or an individual group on the total polarization.