Multivariate Gini Indices

Two extensions of the univariate Gini index are considered:RD, based on expected distance between two independent vectors from the same distribution with finite meanμ∈Rd; andRV, related to the expected volume of the simplex formed fromd+1 independent such vectors. A new characterization ofRDas proportional to a univariate Gini index for a particular linear combination of attributes relates it to the Lorenz zonoid. TheLorenz zonoidwas suggested as a multivariate generalization of the Lorenz curve.RVis, up to scaling, the volume of the Lorenz zonoid plus a unit cube of full dimension. Whend=1, bothRDandRVequal twice the area between the usual Lorenz curve and the line of zero disparity. Whend>1, they are different, but inherit properties of the univariate Gini index and are related via the Lorenz zonoid:RDis proportional to the average of the areas of some two-dimensioned projections of the lift zonoid, whileRVis the average of the volumes of projections of the Lorenz zonoid over all coordinate subspaces.