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Does the Application of Alternative Methods Change the Pattern of Regional Inequality in Russia?

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Abstract—

The main goal of this work is to find ways to improve the regional system for monitoring income inequality in Russia. In our paper we compare methods of measuring income inequality that are currently used in official statistics with alternative methods. Alternative indicators include those used by international organizations and those appearing in the economic literature. The empirical basis for the analysis is formed by the microdata of the Statistical Survey of Personal Income and Participation in Social Programs, held by Rosstat in 2017. Based on the results of the study, a list of additional indicators that allow to reveal specific features of regional income inequality in Russia was proposed. We also identified the list of Russian regions for which the use of additional inequality indicators is most appropriate. We expect that using the extended set of income differentiation measures will provide policymakers with an important information to design effective responses to inequality.

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Notes

  1. The heavy-tailed distribution is the probability distribution whose tails are not exponentially bounded, i.e., its tails are heavier than an exponential distribution.

  2. World Bank. LAC Equity Lab. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/lac-equity-lab1/income-inequality/inequality-trends.

  3. Russian Longitudinal Monitoring survey (RLMS-HSE), conducted by National Research University Higher School of Economics and “Demoscope” together with Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (RLMS-HSE web sites: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/rlms-hse, http://www.hse.ru/org/hse/rlms).

  4. The main data source for the analysis of income inequality in Russian regions is Rosstat’s official publications. These publications provide information on income inequality both in Russia as a whole and in individual regions. The most complete set of indicators of income equality in Russian regions is presented in the publication “Social situation and standard of living of the population of Russia,” which Rosstat issues since 1997 (every year in 1997−2016 and every two years since 2016).

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The article was written on the basis of the RANEPA state assignment research programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, 119571, Moscow, Russia

    T. M. Maleva, M. A. Kartseva, P. O. Kuznetsova & A. A. Salmina

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  1. T. M. Maleva
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Correspondence to T. M. Maleva, M. A. Kartseva, P. O. Kuznetsova or A. A. Salmina.

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Maleva, T.M., Kartseva, M.A., Kuznetsova, P.O. et al. Does the Application of Alternative Methods Change the Pattern of Regional Inequality in Russia?. Reg. Res. Russ. 11, 18–28 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970521010093

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