Analisi esplorativa e predittiva per confronti tra regimi fiscali europei

5 It is generally agreed that, other things being equal, a considerable reduction in the inequality of incomes found in most modern commu- nities would be desirable. But it is not generally agreed how this inequality should be measured. The problem of the measurement of the inequality of incomes has not been much considered by English economists. It has attracted rather more attention in America, but it is in Italy that it has hitherto been most fully discussed. The impor- tance of the problem has been obscured by the inadequacy of the available statistics of the distribution of income in all modern com- munities. To such statistics as we have, no very fine measures can be applied. The improvement of these statistics is the business of statis- ticians, but the problem of measuring and comparing the inequalities, which improved statistics would more precisely reveal, should be ca- pable of theoretical solution now. No complete solution is presented in this paper, but only a discussion of certain points of principle and method. “Measurement of the inequality of incomes” The Economic Journal – september 1920 Hugh Dalton