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Measuring National Income: A Critical Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2005

Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz ,
Angela Stach ,
Vrushali Patil  and
Timothy Patrick Moran
Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Maryland
Angela Stach
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Maryland
Vrushali Patil
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Maryland
Timothy Patrick Moran
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, SUNY-Stony Brook
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Extract

Recent studies of trends in world income inequalities show that results differ significantly depending on whether income is measured through Purchasing Power Parities (PPP)- or exchange rate (FX)-based data. Korzeniewicz and Moran (1997), for example, relying on FX-based national income data, argue that world income inequalities rose during the 1980s. Firebaugh (1999), on the other hand, using PPP-based national income data, counters that world income inequalities declined through the same period. Both sets of authors subsequently have acknowledged and continued to debate the relative impact of PPP- and FX-based data in the assessment of world income inequalities (Firebaugh 2000; Korzeniewicz and Moran 2000).

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , July 2004 , pp. 535 - 586
Copyright
© 2004 Society for Comparative Study of Society and History

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