[ANN] Inequality.jl

Package Announcements
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Inequality.jl has functions for the analysis of inequality and poverty indicators. It currently supports the estimation of the following (both weighted and unweighted):

  • Gini Coefficient
  • Atkinson Coefficient
  • Lorenz Curve
  • Generalized Entropy Index
  • Theil Index
  • Mean log deviation
  • Watts Poverty Index
  • Foster–Greer–Thorbecke Index
  • Poverty Gap
  • Headcount Ratio

It’s my first Julia package so coments, suggestions and contributions are more than welcome! :slightly_smiling_face:

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This looks like a very useful package to have for people working in those areas that’s well documented too!

I do feel that the name could have been chosen to be slightly more specific, such as InequalityIndicators.jl as it is more precise description of what the package provides and fits better with Julia’s package naming conventions.

I apologise that this is my only specific comment on the package (but perhaps this is a compliment to your documentation and concise code!).

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Thanks very much for your feedback, Jacobus!

I’m planning to expand the package beyond the current indicators. Most likely including top-income adjustments and functions for processing income and wealth variables (e.g. equivalisations and CPI/PPP adjustments). Thus, I’ll probably keep the current general package name.

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Hi,

I published PovertyAndInequalityMeasures.jl a while back, which covers much the same ground. Be interesting to see how they compare. Let a thousand flowers bloom and all that.

Graham

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Thank you for the contribution.

The name means something very different to many Julia users,
“inequality” is of a field of mathematics and some computer science.
The orthographic root may be the same; the manner of consideration differs. Speaking for myself, I expected a package that provided tools for investigating or establishing inequations (a = b + c, an equation … replace = with another comparative relationship and there are many uses for the sort of expressions that result, see Inequality of arithmetic and geometric means - Wikipedia). A name like that suggested above InequalityIndictors or EconomicInequalities or what you find more explanatory would help.

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Thanks for your feedback, Jeffrey.

I now see why the package name might lead to confusion. I’ll seriously think about changing it.

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Hi Graham.

I checked for other packages in the area before writing mine, but I completely missed yours. It’s great to see there’s other people working on inequalities/poverty using Julia!

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Yes, when I saw the package name, I expected a package for solving mathematical inequalities.

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Yes, it’s good to see someone interested in the same stuff. It would be great to see a suite of survey-data related things in Julia, rather like R has. My wishlist includes:

  • survey data weighting: I’ve got an implementation that does the job but could do with a lot of development and testing;
  • data matching. Like the R Statmatch package;
  • multidimensional poverty and inequality;
  • a nice tabulator, kind of like SPSS has.

You also mention equivalence scales in your bio. I have a bunch of these in a sub-package of my tax-benefit model. It’s inelegant code, but might be a start.

I’ll have a good look at your package. Looks more elegant than mine …

Graham