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Double power laws in income and wealth distributions

Author

Listed:
  • 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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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Gamannossi degl’Innocenti, Duccio & Rablen, Matthew D., 2020. "Tax evasion on a social network," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 79-91.
    5. 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.
    6. Düring, Bertram & Matthes, Daniel & Toscani, Giuseppe, 2008. "A Boltzmann-type approach to the formation of wealth distribution curves," CoFE Discussion Papers 08/05, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
    7. Tomson Ogwang, 2011. "Power laws in top wealth distributions: evidence from Canada," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 473-486, October.
    8. Blair Fix, 2018. "Hierarchy and the power-law income distribution tail," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 471-491, September.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Aydiner, Ekrem & Cherstvy, Andrey G. & Metzler, Ralf, 2018. "Wealth distribution, Pareto law, and stretched exponential decay of money: Computer simulations analysis of agent-based models," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 490(C), pages 278-288.
    12. Mannan, Kazi Abdul & Farhana, Khandaker Mursheda & Chowdhury, G. M. Omar Faruque, 2021. "Social Network and Tax Evasion: Theoretical Model and Empirical Evidence in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 108279, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    13. Düring, Bertram & Toscani, Giuseppe, 2008. "International and domestic trading and wealth distribution," CoFE Discussion Papers 08/02, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
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