Studies on Regional Wealth Inequalities: the case of Italy

TL;DR

This paper reviews techniques for analyzing regional wealth inequalities in Italy from 2007-2011, presenting new features and applying various statistical measures to highlight regional disparities.

Contribution

It introduces unpublished features in the analysis of Italian regional wealth inequalities and applies multiple inequality indices to regional data.

Findings

Italy exhibits significant regional wealth disparities.

The Gini, Theil, and Herfindahl-Hirschman indices reveal diverse regional economic realities.

Molise is highlighted as a case study for regional analysis.

Abstract

The paper contains a short review of techniques examining regional wealth inequalities based on recently published research work but is also presenting unpublished features. The data pertains to Italy (IT), over the period 2007-2011: the number of cities in regions, the number of inhabitants in cities and in regions, as well as the aggregated tax income of the cities and of regions. Frequency-size plots and cumulative distribution function plots, scatter plots and rank-size plots are displayed. The rank-size rule of a few cases is discussed. Yearly data of the aggregated tax income is transformed into a few indicators: the Gini, Theil, and Herfindahl-Hirschman indices. Numerical results confirm that IT is divided into very different regional realities. One region is selected for a short discussion: Molise. A note on the "first digit Benford law" for testing data validity is presented.