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Universal laws of human society’s income distribution

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  • Tao, Yong

Abstract

General equilibrium equations in economics play the same role with many-body Newtonian equations in physics. Accordingly, each solution of the general equilibrium equations can be regarded as a possible microstate of the economic system. Since Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem and Rawls’ principle of social fairness will provide a powerful support for the hypothesis of equal probability, then the principle of maximum entropy is available in a just and equilibrium economy so that an income distribution will occur spontaneously (with the largest probability). Remarkably, some scholars have observed such an income distribution in some democratic countries, e.g. USA. This result implies that the hypothesis of equal probability may be only suitable for some “fair” systems (economic or physical systems). From this meaning, the non-equilibrium systems may be “unfair” so that the hypothesis of equal probability is unavailable.

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  • Tao, Yong, 2015. "Universal laws of human society’s income distribution," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 435(C), pages 89-94.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:435:y:2015:i:c:p:89-94
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2015.05.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Yong Tao & Xiangjun Wu & Tao Zhou & Weibo Yan & Yanyuxiang Huang & Han Yu & Benedict Mondal & Victor M. Yakovenko, 2019. "Exponential structure of income inequality: evidence from 67 countries," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 14(2), pages 345-376, June.
    2. Tao, Yong & Sornette, Didier & Lin, Li, 2021. "Emerging social brain: A collective self-motivated Boltzmann machine," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Tao, Yong, 2020. "Self-referential Boltzmann machine," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 545(C).
    4. Gündüz, Güngör & Kuzucuoğlu, Mahmut & Gündüz, Yalın, 2022. "Entropic characterization of Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP) values of countries," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 603(C).
    5. Tao, Yong, 2021. "Boltzmann-like income distribution in low and middle income classes: Evidence from the United Kingdom," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 578(C).
    6. Tao, Yong & Wu, Xiangjun & Li, Changshuai, 2017. "Rawls' fairness, income distribution and alarming level of Gini coefficient," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-67, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Tao, Yong, 2018. "Swarm intelligence in humans: A perspective of emergent evolution," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 502(C), pages 436-446.

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