GNI. Palma suggests that distributional politics relates mainly to the struggle between the rich and poor, and who the middle classes side with. The Palma ratio could be a good comparison to the Gini coefficient measurement, and could cater the disadvantages of the commonly used Gini. These disadvantages include the fact that the measurement may give different results for individuals as compared to households. Furthermore, countries that are more diverse will display a higher regional coefficient than it does individually. Historical background Second World War (1942–1945) When the Japanese occupied the Philippines, those who were ruthless enough to deal with their fellow Filipinos as well as the Japanese forces became part of the elite. However, the number of people who fell to the lower classes increased and thus, became the main problem of the post-war period. The number of people who fell into poverty increased because of the fighting which led to personal and property loss, monumental destruction, and social upheaval. Since production was practically destroyed people engaged in the buy-and-sell business. To encourage this, the Japanese created the so-called "Mickey Mouse" Money as their currency for the occupied Philippines and this caused inflation. An effect of this inflation was that prices rose to astronomical levels. A good example of this would be matches being sold at 100 "Mickey Mouse" Pesos. This kind of money caused inflation because the Japanese had no way of backing it, thus it was worthless. By the end of the war, irrigation facilities in farms were damaged and destroyed, and agricultural lands were neglected. Livestock also was reduced to 65%, thus a scarcity of food resulted and thus, family heads padded the numbers of their family members to get more food, thus becoming hoarders. Due to this hoarding, prices rose and thus, President Osmena tried to solve this by prescribing the maximum prices for goods. However, in reality, the real market prices were way higher than those stated by Osmeña's order. Due to this, people had no choice but to follow the higher prices set by profiteers, since money was already circulating. Because of lack of food and economic dislocation, people could be seen on the streets scavenging for food or dying from disease while those who were able to profit from the buy-and-sell business and war profiteers were able to join the upper class. Thus, during the Second World War, the already-present problem of