Limiting value of the Kolkata index for social inequality and a possible social constant

Asim Ghosh and Bikas K. Chakrabarti

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2021, vol. 573, issue C

Abstract: Based on some analytic structural properties of the Gini and Kolkata indices for social inequality, as obtained from a generic form of the Lorenz function, we make a conjecture that the limiting (effective saturation) value of the above-mentioned indices is about 0.865. This, together with some more new observations on the citation statistics of individual authors (including Nobel laureates), suggests that about 14% of people or papers or social conflicts tend to earn or attract or cause about 86% of wealth or citations or deaths respectively in very competitive situations in markets, universities or wars. This is a modified form of the (more than a) century old 80−20 law of Pareto in economy (not visible today because of various welfare and other strategies) and gives an universal value (0.86) of social (inequality) constant or number.

Keywords: Gini index; Kolkata index; Lorenz function; Social inequality; Citations statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:573:y:2021:i:c:s0378437121002168

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2021.125944

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