Prof. Ivo Mossig and Hannes Lehmann of the INF team presented their technical paper, "Filling Data Gaps in the Measurement of Income Inequality: A Complete Dataset of National GINI Coefficients, 1995–2019," at the 65th Conference of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA). Held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 25 to 28 August 2026, the conference brought together more than 600 participants from 55 countries under the theme "Global Challenges and Regional Responses in a Transition Era."
"I was very pleased with the positive feedback on our approach of using a machine-learning algorithm based on a Gradient Boosting Machine to predict missing data," says Hannes Lehmann. Ivo Mossig adds: "The presentation also provided an excellent opportunity to introduce the CRC 1342 and our central database, WeSIS, to the regional science community." The approach helps to close substantial gaps in the available data, particularly for countries in the Global South. It now enables researchers to compare income inequality across different countries over time on the basis of a consistent and comprehensive dataset.
The dataset is available in WeSIS: https://wesis.org/indicators/2588
The corresponding Technical Paper No. 24 is available here: https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/5604
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ivo Mossig
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49-421-218 67410
E-Mail: mossig@uni-bremen.de
