财富和收入分配的不平等是无标度网络所代表的经济体系中所有成员机会均等的必然结果

IF 2.1 Q2 ECONOMICS Economies Pub Date : 2024-08-29 DOI:10.3390/economies12090232
John G. Ingersoll
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引用次数: 0

摘要

这项工作的目的是研究历史上观察到的、经验上用帕累托定律描述的经济体系中财富和收入分配不平等的性质。这种不平等被假定为其成员机会不平等的结果。我们建立了一个经济系统分析模型,该模型由大量行为体组成,所有行为体都能平等地获得总财富(或收入),该模型由一个由节点(行为体)和链接(财富或收入状态)组成的无标度网络正式表示。众所周知,复杂网络的动态演化可以反过来映射为一个量子粒子系统(链路),该系统分布在热力学平衡状态下的各个能级(节点)之间。然后,根据统计热力学推导出物理系统中不同能级的量子粒子(光子)的分布情况,系统要达到最大熵,才能处于动态平衡状态。由此得出的物理系统的普朗克型分布映射到无标度网络中,自然引出经济系统的帕累托定律分布。从无标度复杂网络模型分析推导出经验帕累托定律的结论是多方面的。首先,任何复杂经济系统的行为都类似于无标度复杂网络。其次,机会均等会导致结果不平等。第三,帕累托指数的最佳值可以确保财富和收入分配的最佳结果,尽管是不平等的。第四,可以计算出吉尼系数的最佳值,并将其与财富和收入的经验值进行比较,以确定一个经济体系与其成员之间收入和财富的最佳分配有多接近。第五,在一个所有成员机会均等的经济体系中,收入和财富的分配不应有差异。对国民经济基尼系数所描述的财富和收入分配情况的研究表明,收入,尤其是财富,与最佳值相去甚远。我们的结论是,机会均等应是任何经济体系实现财富和收入最佳分配的基本指导原则。这一结论的实际应用是,社会应将重点从税收和支付转移等旨在为所有人带来平等结果的政策(这是一个无法实现且浪费的目标),转移到促进人人享有教育、医疗保健和负担得起的住房等政策,以及对规则和制度的重新评估,从而使经济体系中的所有成员都有平等的机会来优化资源的利用以及财富和收入的分配。未来的研究工作应开发无标度复杂网络经济模型,作为当前标准模型的补充。
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Inequality in the Distribution of Wealth and Income as a Natural Consequence of the Equal Opportunity of All Members in the Economic System Represented by a Scale-Free Network
The purpose of this work is to examine the nature of the historically observed and empirically described by the Pareto law inequality in the distribution of wealth and income in an economic system. This inequality is presumed to be the result of unequal opportunity by its members. An analytical model of the economic system consisting of a large number of actors, all having equal access to its total wealth (or income) has been developed that is formally represented by a scale-free network comprised of nodes (actors) and links (states of wealth or income). The dynamic evolution of the complex network can be mapped in turn, as is known, into a system of quantum particles (links) distributed among various energy levels (nodes) in thermodynamic equilibrium. The distribution of quantum particles (photons) at different energy levels in the physical system is then derived based on statistical thermodynamics with the attainment of maximal entropy for the system to be in a dynamic equilibrium. The resulting Planck-type distribution of the physical system mapped into a scale-free network leads naturally into the Pareto law distribution of the economic system. The conclusions of the scale-free complex network model leading to the analytical derivation of the empirical Pareto law are multifold. First, any complex economic system behaves akin to a scale-free complex network. Second, equal access or opportunity leads to unequal outcomes. Third, the optimal value for the Pareto index is obtained that ensures the optimal, albeit unequal, outcome of wealth and income distribution. Fourth, the optimal value for the Gini coefficient can then be calculated and be compared to the empirical values of that coefficient for wealth and income to ascertain how close an economic system is to its optimal distribution of income and wealth among its members. Fifth, in an economic system with equal opportunity for all its members there should be no difference between the resulting income and wealth distributions. Examination of the wealth and income distributions described by the Gini coefficient of national economies suggests that income and particularly wealth are far off from their optimal value. We conclude that the equality of opportunity should be the fundamental guiding principle of any economic system for the optimal distribution of wealth and income. The practical application of this conclusion is that societies ought to shift focus from policies such as taxation and payment transfers purporting to produce equal outcomes for all, a goal which is unattainable and wasteful, to policies advancing among others education, health care, and affordable housing for all as well as the re-evaluation of rules and institutions such that all members in the economic system have equal opportunity for the optimal utilization of resources and the distribution of wealth and income. Future research efforts should develop the scale-free complex network model of the economy as a complement to the current standard models.
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来源期刊
Economies
Economies Economics, Econometrics and Finance-Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
CiteScore
4.00
自引率
11.50%
发文量
271
审稿时长
11 weeks
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