Erroneous Formulae for International Comparison of Variability of Income. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 81 1973

Geary, R.C. (1973) Erroneous Formulae for International Comparison of Variability of Income. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 81 1973. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

A suggestive and painstaking paper by F. G. Williamson, dealing incidentally with international comparisons of income variability, has attracted some attention in ESRI. Two formulae for assessing variability are considered where fi = population of the ith region, n = national population, yi = national income per capita, N = number of regions. We use the author's notation, with one small change. Though preferring (1), the author uses both formulae for comparing variability in 24 countries, including Ireland, for which he apparently used Geary's county income data for 1960. Hence in this case N = 26. Number of regions N varied greatly ranging from 6 for Australia to 76 for Puerto Rico.

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