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Is the wealth of the Forbes 400 lists really Pareto distributed?

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  • Chan, Stephen
  • Chu, Jeffrey
  • Nadarajah, Saralees

Abstract

A number of researchers have studied the wealth distribution of the Forbes 400 lists (for example, Klass et al. (2006)). They argue that the wealth is Pareto distributed. We ask the question: does the Pareto distribution really give a statistically adequate fit? We find other distributions giving statistically adequate fits.

Suggested Citation

  • Chan, Stephen & Chu, Jeffrey & Nadarajah, Saralees, 2017. "Is the wealth of the Forbes 400 lists really Pareto distributed?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 9-14.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:152:y:2017:i:c:p:9-14
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2016.12.017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Klass, Oren S. & Biham, Ofer & Levy, Moshe & Malcai, Ofer & Solomon, Sorin, 2006. "The Forbes 400 and the Pareto wealth distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 290-295, February.
    2. Moshe Levy, 2009. "Gibrat's Law for (All) Cities: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1672-1675, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Campolieti, Michele, 2018. "Heavy-tailed distributions and the distribution of wealth: Evidence from rich lists in Canada, 1999–2017," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 503(C), pages 263-272.
    2. Böhl, Gregor & Fischer, Thomas, 2017. "Can taxation predict US top-wealth share dynamics?," IMFS Working Paper Series 118, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    3. Fernholz, Ricardo T. & Hagler, Kara, 2023. "Rising inequality and declining mobility in the Forbes 400," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).

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