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Sociological and Economic Inequality and the Second Law

Author

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  • Kafri, Oded

Abstract

There are two fair ways to distribute particles in boxes. The first one is the Casino’s way, namely an equal chance to any box. The second one is the thermodynamic way, namely an equal chance to any different configuration of particles and boxes. The second way, calculated here, yields an uneven distribution of the particles in the boxes. It is shown that this distribution fits well to sociological phenomena, such as to the distribution of votes in polls and the distribution of wealth. This distribution yields the Benford law (the distribution of digits in numerical data), as a private case.

Suggested Citation

  • Kafri, Oded, 2008. "Sociological and Economic Inequality and the Second Law," MPRA Paper 9175, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:9175
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/9175/1/MPRA_paper_9175.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth distribution ; Power law; Zipf law; Thermodynamics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C16 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Econometric and Statistical Methods; Specific Distributions
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics

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