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Zipf's exponent and Zipf's law in the BRICS: a rolling sample regressions approach

Author

Listed:
  • Guillermo Peña

    (Universidad de Zaragoza)

  • Fernando Sanz-Gracia

    (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Abstract

Using urban data from the last available census of the five BRICS countries we have tested, by means of a rolling sample regressions approach, whether, as Eeckhout (2004) proposed, the Pareto exponent in a standard Zipf equation is decreasing as more cities are added to the sample. The results are very conclusive: Eeckhout's hypothesis is satisfied for Brazil, Russia and South Africa, but for India and China there are non-negligible parts of the distribution where it is not fulfilled. We also test the fulfilment of Zipf's law: it holds in the upper tail of the five countries (except South Africa) but for the rest of the distribution the predominant outcome is rejection.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillermo Peña & Fernando Sanz-Gracia, 2021. "Zipf's exponent and Zipf's law in the BRICS: a rolling sample regressions approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(4), pages 2543-2549.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-21-00417
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2021/Volume41/EB-21-V41-I4-P219.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Zipf exponent; Zipf's law; BRICS; rolling sample regressions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • C2 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables

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