Income distribution in the Colombian economy from an econophysics perspective

Hernando Quevedo () and María N. Quevedo ()

Revista Cuadernos de Economia, 2016, vol. 35, issue 69, 691-707

Abstract: Recently, in econophysics, it has been shown that it is possible to analyze economic systems as equilibrium thermodynamic models. We apply statistical thermodynamics methods to analyze income distribution in the Colombian economic system. Using the data obtained in random polls, we show that income distribution in the Colombian economic system is characterized by two specific phases. The first includes about 90% of the interviewed individuals, and is characterized by an exponential Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution. The second phase, which contains the individuals with the highest incomes, can be described by means of one or two power-law density distributions that are known as Pareto distributions. ***** En el marco de la econofísica se ha demostrado recientemente que es posible analizar sistemas económicos como modelos termodinámicos en equilibrio. En este artículo aplicamos métodos de termodinámica estadística para analizar la distribución de ingresos dentro del sistema económico colombiano. Utilizando datos de encuestas aleatorias, demostramos que la distribución de ingresos presenta dos fases particulares. La primera corresponde a cerca del 90% del grupo analizado y se caracteriza por una distribución exponencial del tipo Boltzmann-Gibbs. La segunda fase, en la que están incluidos los entrevistados con ingresos más altos, se puede describir mediante una o dos distribuciones de potencias: distribuciones de Pareto.

Keywords: Econophysics; income distribution; Colombian economy; BoltzmannGibbsdistribution; Pareto distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 C02 C49 D10 D31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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