The Gini index is probably the most popular summary statistic of inequality as it is widely available due to its easy computation and comparability across countries and over time. A zero coefficient characterises perfect equality, whereas a coefficient of one represents perfect inequality, that is, all income is held by one individual or household. At the same time, the Gini has well documented drawbacks: two very different distributions, and thus different inequality patterns, may yield the same Gini coefficient (see, for example, Bellu and Liberati, 2006), and the Gini is more sensitive to changes in the middle of the income distribution, rather than the extremes which are of more interest from a social welfare perspective (see, for example, Atkinson, 1970).