Vertical transmission of culture and the distribution of family names

Damián H Zanette and Susanna C Manrubia

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2001, vol. 295, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: A stochastic model for the evolution of a growing population is proposed, in order to explain empirical power-law distributions in the frequency of family names as a function of the family size. Preliminary results show that the predicted exponents are in good agreement with real data. The evolution of family-name distributions is discussed in the frame of vertical transmission of cultural features.

Keywords: Social dynamics; Random processes; Power-law distributions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:295:y:2001:i:1:p:1-8

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(01)00046-2

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