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Double power laws in income and wealth distributions

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  • Coelho, Ricardo
  • Richmond, Peter
  • Barry, Joseph
  • Hutzler, Stefan

Abstract

Close examination of wealth distributions reveal the existence of two distinct power law regimes. The Pareto exponents of the super-rich, identified, for example in rich lists such as provided by Forbes, are smaller than the Pareto exponents obtained for top earners in income data sets. Our extension of the Slanina model of wealth is able to reproduce these double power law features.

Suggested Citation

  • Coelho, Ricardo & Richmond, Peter & Barry, Joseph & Hutzler, Stefan, 2008. "Double power laws in income and wealth distributions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(15), pages 3847-3851.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:387:y:2008:i:15:p:3847-3851
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.047
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Chami Figueira, F. & Moura, N.J. & Ribeiro, M.B., 2011. "The Gompertz–Pareto income distribution," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(4), pages 689-698.
    4. Kočišová, J. & Horváth, D. & Brutovský, B., 2009. "The efficiency of individual optimization in the conditions of competitive growth," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(17), pages 3585-3592.
    5. Tomson Ogwang, 2011. "Power laws in top wealth distributions: evidence from Canada," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 473-486, October.
    6. Blair Fix, 2018. "Hierarchy and the power-law income distribution tail," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 471-491, September.
    7. Ogwang, Tomson, 2013. "Is the wealth of the world’s billionaires Paretian?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(4), pages 757-762.
    8. Fix, Blair, 2021. "Redistributing Income Through Hierarchy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 98, pages 58-86.
    9. C. García & J. García Pérez & J. Dorp, 2011. "Modeling heavy-tailed, skewed and peaked uncertainty phenomena with bounded support," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 20(4), pages 463-486, November.
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    12. Soares, Abner D. & Moura Jr., Newton J. & Ribeiro, Marcelo B., 2016. "Tsallis statistics in the income distribution of Brazil," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 158-171.
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