given the inherent limitation of these data other indicators of the size and progressivity of taxes and transfers are presented to investigate the characteristics of specific tax and benefit schemes a cluster analysis of carefully selected policy indicators capturing the progressivity size and mix of taxes and benefits is then implemented to identify groups of oecd countries sharing common redistributive approaches inequality in income after taxes and transfers as measured by the gini index was about lower than for income beore taxes and transfers on average in the oecd area in the late s for the same period poverty measured after taxes and transfers was lower than before taxes and transfers for the oecd average