Definition: The Gini coefficient is a number between zero and one that is a measure of inequality. An example is the concentration of suppliers in a market or industry.

The Gini coefficient is the ratio of the area under the Lorenz curve to the area under the diagonal on a graph of the Lorenz curve, which is 5000 if both axes have percentage units. The meaning of the Gini coefficient: if the suppliers in a market have near-equal market share, the Gini coefficient is near zero. If most of the suppliers have very low market share but there exist one or a few supplies providing most of the market share then the Gini coefficient is near one.

In labour economics, inequality of the wage distribution can be discussed in terms of a Gini coefficient, where the wages of subgroups are fractions of the total wage bill(23)

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