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Entrepreneurs, Chance, and the Deterministic Concentration of Wealth

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  • Joseph E Fargione
  • Clarence Lehman
  • Stephen Polasky

Abstract

In many economies, wealth is strikingly concentrated. Entrepreneurs–individuals with ownership in for-profit enterprises–comprise a large portion of the wealthiest individuals, and their behavior may help explain patterns in the national distribution of wealth. Entrepreneurs are less diversified and more heavily invested in their own companies than is commonly assumed in economic models. We present an intentionally simplified individual-based model of wealth generation among entrepreneurs to assess the role of chance and determinism in the distribution of wealth. We demonstrate that chance alone, combined with the deterministic effects of compounding returns, can lead to unlimited concentration of wealth, such that the percentage of all wealth owned by a few entrepreneurs eventually approaches 100%. Specifically, concentration of wealth results when the rate of return on investment varies by entrepreneur and by time. This result is robust to inclusion of realities such as differing skill among entrepreneurs. The most likely overall growth rate of the economy decreases as businesses become less diverse, suggesting that high concentrations of wealth may adversely affect a country's economic growth. We show that a tax on large inherited fortunes, applied to a small portion of the most fortunate in the population, can efficiently arrest the concentration of wealth at intermediate levels.

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  • Joseph E Fargione & Clarence Lehman & Stephen Polasky, 2011. "Entrepreneurs, Chance, and the Deterministic Concentration of Wealth," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0020728
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020728
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    Cited by:

    1. Bouleau, Nicolas & Chorro, Christophe, 2017. "The impact of randomness on the distribution of wealth: Some economic aspects of the Wright–Fisher diffusion process," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 479(C), pages 379-395.
    2. Nicolas Bouleau & Christophe Chorro, 2017. "The impact of randomness on the distribution of wealth: Some economic aspects of the Wright-Fisher diffusion process," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01138383, HAL.
    3. Nicolas Bouleau & Christophe Chorro, 2015. "The impact of randomness on the distribution of wealth: Some economic aspects of the Wright-Fisher diffusion process," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 15024r, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, revised Jul 2015.
    4. Nicolas Bouleau & Christophe Chorro, 2017. "The impact of randomness on the distribution of wealth: Some economic aspects of the Wright-Fisher diffusion process," Post-Print hal-01138383, HAL.
    5. Francisco Cardoso, Ben-Hur & Gonçalves, Sebastián & Iglesias, José Roberto, 2023. "Why equal opportunities lead to maximum inequality? The wealth condensation paradox generally solved," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Burgess, Matthew G. & Carrella, Ernesto & Drexler, Michael & Axtell, Robert L. & Bailey, Richard M. & Watson, James R. & Cabral, Reniel B. & Clemence, Michaela & Costello, Christopher & Dorsett, Chris, 2018. "Opportunities for agent-based modeling in human dimensions of fisheries," SocArXiv gzhm5, Center for Open Science.
    7. Nicolas Bouleau & Christophe Chorro, 2015. "The impact of randomness on the distribution of wealth: Some economic aspects of the Wright-Fisher diffusion process," Post-Print halshs-01162452, HAL.
    8. Ricardo T. Fernholz, 2016. "A Statistical Model of Inequality," Papers 1601.04093, arXiv.org.

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