Statistical Size Distributions
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Overview
A comprehensive account of economic size distributions around the world and throughout the years
In the course of the past 100 years, economists and applied statisticians have developed a remarkably diverse variety of income distribution models, yet no single resource convincingly accounts for all of these models, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, similarities and differences. Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences is the first collection to systematically investigate a wide variety of parametric models that deal with income, wealth, and related notions.
Christian Kleiber and Samuel Kotz survey, compliment, compare, and unify all of the disparate models of income distribution, highlighting at times a lack of coordination between them that can result in unnecessary duplication. Considering models from eight languages and all continents, the authors discuss the social and economic implications of each as well as distributions of size of loss in actuarial applications. Specific models covered include:
- Pareto distributions
- Lognormal distributions
- Gamma-type size distributions
- Beta-type size distributions
- Miscellaneous size distributions
Three appendices provide brief biographies of some of the leading players along with the basic properties of each of the distributions. Actuaries, economists, market researchers, social scientists, and physicists interested in econophysics will find Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences to be a truly one-of-a-kind addition to the professional literature.
Synopsis
Kleiber (statistics, U. of Dortmund, Germany) and Kotz (engineering management and systems engineering, George Washington U., Washington, D.C.) present the first text to trace the numerous statistical models of income distribution, from the late 19th century on, including Pareto, lognormal, gamma-type size, and beta-type distributions. They review, compare, and connect the various models, and demonstrate how the lack of coordination among researchers has resulted in duplication of effort. The appendices include brief biographies of leading contributors to the field, and basic properties of each of the distributions. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Researchers and teachers in econometrics and actuarial statistics will find this book an interesting source of information." (Journal of the American Statistical Association, December 2004)
"The overall quality of the book is excellent. The material is well-written and well laid out…an indispensable, authoritative source of information…" (Zentralblatt MATH Database)
“…an indispensable, authoritative source of information on a remarkably diverse variety of parametric models for applied statisticians and researchers…” (Zentralblatt Math, Vol.1044, No.19, 2004)
"As a reference book, it is exceptionally well done, as are all of the projects undertaken by Prof. Kotz…The statistics profession has been greatly enriched by this particular effort." (Technometrics, November 2004)
"…the authors have gone a long way towards achieving their ideal that 'a useful book on this subject matter should be interesting.” (Short Book Reviews, August 2004)
“...traces the numerous statistical models of income distribution for Pareto’s model in the late 19th century to the latest ones.” (Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, Vol. LXII, No. 1, March 2004)