Welfare Rankings of the Distribution of Earnings in Italy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to compare the economic well-being associated to the distribution of earnings in Italy. To this purpose, dominance techniques are extensively used to minimize the disagreement about the set of social values introduced into the analysis. We will show that even in a simple economic framework, dominance conditions do not allow extensive ranking. Indeed, unanimous welfare prescriptions are hardly achieved at any dimension, which means that more specific indicators are needed to allow a rank on the basis of specific value judgments. Using the Analysis of Gini (ANOGI), we are able to show that differences among regional distributions accentuate over time, confirming the persistence of the Italian dualism among geographical areas.