Some measures of intermediate between-group inequality: Indian evidence

Inequality measures can be classified into two broad categories, such as leftist inequality measures and rightist inequality measures. The rightist view states that equal proportional changes in all incomes leave inequality unchanged, and the leftist view of inequality states that equal absolute changes in all incomes leave inequality unchanged. These are two extreme value judgments. An intermediate position can also be taken into account which would yield an ‘intermediate’ inequality measure. In this study we develop two multidimensional between-group intermediate inequality measures based on the centrist approach to inequality which is just the middle of two extremes. We apply these measures on Indian data to assess the inequality among the social groups in the distributions of household monthly per capita consumer expenditure and educational achievement across rural and urban areas in fourteen major states.