mutualinf: An R package for computing and decomposing the mutual information index of Ssegregation Articles uri icon

publication date

  • November 2023

start page

  • 77

end page

  • 88

volume

  • 15/2

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2073-4859

abstract

  • In this article, we present the R package mutualinf for computing and decomposing the
    mutual information index of segregation by means of recursion and parallelization techniques. The
    mutual information index is the only multigroup index of segregation that satisfies strong decomposability
    properties, both for organizational units and groups. The mutualinf package contributes by (1)
    implementing the decomposition of the mutual information index into a 'between” and a 'within”
    term; (2) computing, in a single call, a chain of decompositions that involve one 'between” term and
    several 'within” terms; (3) providing the contributions of the variables that define the groups or the
    organizational units to the overall segregation; and (4) providing the demographic weights and local
    indexes employed in the computation of the 'within” term. We illustrate the use of mutualinf using
    Chilean school enrollment data. With these data, we study socioeconomic and ethnic segregation in
    schools.

subjects

  • Economics