Hello,
I am analyzing how the skewness of wealth and income inequality affects voting behavior, using a measure defined as:
Skewness = wealth_gini / income_gini
However, I am concerned about how to interpret significant results. Specifically, how can I determine whether the skewness measure itself is meaningful or if the results are driven by one of the underlying Gini coefficients?
For example, if Income Gini is negatively correlated with political participation, then my skewness measure (where Income Gini is in the denominator) could end up showing a positive effect simply due to the reciprocal relationship. This would not necessarily indicate that skewness has an independent effect but rather that it is mechanically capturing the inverse of Income Gini.
Would it be better to include Wealth Gini and Income Gini separately in the model first and then introduce the proportion as an additional variable? Or is there another way to test whether the skewness measure has independent explanatory power?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I am analyzing how the skewness of wealth and income inequality affects voting behavior, using a measure defined as:
Skewness = wealth_gini / income_gini
However, I am concerned about how to interpret significant results. Specifically, how can I determine whether the skewness measure itself is meaningful or if the results are driven by one of the underlying Gini coefficients?
For example, if Income Gini is negatively correlated with political participation, then my skewness measure (where Income Gini is in the denominator) could end up showing a positive effect simply due to the reciprocal relationship. This would not necessarily indicate that skewness has an independent effect but rather that it is mechanically capturing the inverse of Income Gini.
Would it be better to include Wealth Gini and Income Gini separately in the model first and then introduce the proportion as an additional variable? Or is there another way to test whether the skewness measure has independent explanatory power?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
