Statistical Assessment of Regional Wealth Inequalities: the Italian Case

This paper discusses region wealth size distributions, through their member cities aggregated tax income. As an illustration, the official data of the ItalianMinistry ofEconomics and Finance has been considered, for all Italian municipalities, over the period 2007–2011. Yearly data of the aggregated tax income is transformed into a few indicators: the Gini, Theil, and Herfindahl–Hirschman indices. On one hand, the relative interest of each index is discussed. On the other hand, numerical results confirm that Italy is divided into very different regional realities, a few which are specifically outlined. This shows the interest of transforming data in an adequate manner and of comparing such indices.