MEASURING WELL-BEING DIFFERENCES ACROSS EU COUNTRIES. A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF INCOME, HOUSING, HEALTH, AND EDUCATION Measuring Well-Being differences across EU Countries. A Multidimensional Analysis of Income, Housing, Health, and Education.*

Abstract This paper investigates the evolution of the inequality in well-being across different EU countries between 1994 and 2001 by means of a multidimensional approach focusing on income, housing, education and health. We first analyse the four dimensions each by each through an univariate Atkinson-Kolm-Sen index. Then the distributions of each attribute are aggregated into an index which takes into account the possible correlation between dimensions. Our empirical results summarize the trends in inequality for the four indicators of wellbeing considered both separately and jointly, over time and across countries. Since our multidimensional index depends on the values assigned to the parameters, we test the sensitivity of the trend in well-being inequality for different normative choices. Jel codes: D30, D31, D63, I10, I21, I31, I32, O15, O54