The Gini Coefficient

By Jodi Beggs, About.com Guide

Maximum inequality in a society occurs when one person makes all of the money. In this situation, the Lorenz curve is at zero all the way out until the right-hand edge, where it makes a right angle and goes up to the top right corner. This shape occurs simply because, if one person has all of the money, society has zero percent of the income until that last guy is added in, at which point it has 100 percent of the income.

In this case, the region labeled B in the earlier diagram is equal to zero, and the Gini coefficient A/(A+B) is equal to 1 (or 100%).

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• What Is the Gini Coefficient?
• The Lorenz Curve
• Calculating the Gini Coefficient
• A Lower Bound on the Gini Coefficient
• An Upper Bound on the Gini Coefficient
• The Gini Coefficient

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