The Lorenz curve is a diagram which shows how goods are distributed in a population. It has been used extensively in economics, mainly to study distributions of income and wealth. In this paper we show how the curve can be applied in peace research, how the basic curve can be generalized to bivariate and trivariate forms of analysis, and how parameters of inequality are related to the curve. Most of the mathematical results are restatements, in less technical language, of well-known prop erties of the curve, but with a stress on the social and political implications of the methodology.
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