A graphical representation of income distribution where the horizontal axis shows the cumulative share of population and the vertical axis shows the cumulative share of income is called what?

• A. Line of perfect equality
• B. Gini coefficient
• C. Income distribution
• D. Lorenz curve

Answer: (D)

Think about a graph that tracks how income is shared across people, from the poorest up to the richest. The horizontal axis shows the cumulative share of the population, and the vertical axis shows the corresponding cumulative share of income. This specific graph is the Lorenz curve. It starts at the origin and ends at (1,1). If everyone earned the same amount, the Lorenz curve would lie on the line of perfect equality (a straight 45-degree line). The more the curve bows away from that line, the greater the inequality. The line of perfect equality is just a reference for comparison, not the actual distribution. The Gini coefficient is a single number derived from the Lorenz curve, not the graph itself. Income distribution is the broader topic, not a plotted curve. So the graphical representation described is the Lorenz curve.