French decentralisation of the performing arts and regional economic disparities

The standard deviation, the Gini coefficient, entropy measures and Atkinson's indexes are used to study French regional inequalities for per capita subsidies to the performing arts, as compared to GDP per worker, from 1992 to 2002. The two former indexes are more sensitive to transfers around the average, while the others are more sensitive to transfers at the lower end of the distribution scale. Whereas regional disparities remained stable for GDP per worker, they decreased for per capita subsidies to institutions and companies but increased for festivals. State subsidies are less unequal than local grants, so that a balanced decentralisation seems to rely upon some state control. © Springer 2005.