Measuring income polarization using Bonferroni and De Vergottini inequality indices: evidences from European countries

The aim of this paper is to measure to which extent income distribution is polarized across European countries by means of polarization measures based on the Bonferroni and De Vergottini indices of inequality. Different from traditional measures of polarization, the indices proposed in this paper are sensitive to progressive transfers, attaching more importance to some part of the income distribution. These indices enriches the analysis and contribute to disentangle the different faces of income polarization. In the empirical application we compare European countries over the period 2010–2019 using EU-SILC data. Results reveal significant changes in polarization over the last decades for most countries.