EU MECI: A Network-Structured Indicator for a Union of Equality

Athanasios Lapatinas; Marina-Selini Katsaiti

doi:10.1007/s11205-023-03079-9

EU MECI: A Network-Structured Indicator for a Union of Equality

Soc Indic Res. 2023;166(2):465-483. doi: 10.1007/s11205-023-03079-9. Epub 2023 Feb 9.

Authors

Athanasios Lapatinas^{1

2}, Marina-Selini Katsaiti^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy.
² Department of Economics, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
³ Department of Regional and Economic Development, Agricultural University of Athens, Amfissa, Greece.
⁴ Department of Innovation in Government and Society, College of Business and Economics, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE.
⁵ Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece.

Abstract

How are the Member States performing in their challenge toward a fairer and more equal Europe? Based on the data measured by the EU Multidimensional Inequality Monitoring Framework (EU MIMF), we introduce the Multidimensional Equality Complexity Index, EU MECI, derived by structuring the EU MIMF data as a bipartite network of countries and indicators. EU MECI is defined upon the economic complexity methodology, exploiting the network's centrality metrics to calculate aggregate scores of the capacity of Member States to 'build a Union of equality'.

Keywords: EU; Economic complexity; Equalities; Inequalities.