Polarization, Growth And Social Policy. The Case Of Israel, 1997 To 2008
In this paper the authors apply the methodology developed by Garcia Fernandez and Palacios-Gonzalez (2008, 2009) based on multi resolution analysis, to the measurement of polarization to Israeli income data over the past decade. This methodology allows one, in contrast to other polarization measures, to detect sub-populations empirically as incomes concentrated around an optimal number of micromoles. Based on this procedure a polarization measure is developed, consisting of three components: an indicator of alienation and identification; the number of income classes and the distribution of the sizes of the groups. The proposed approach allows one to study polarization beyond mere income class membership, by including ethnic-cultural, individual, family and other demographic characteristics by means of a Probity analysis.