A
new two-parameter descriptive model for the size
distribution of incomes is presented. The
Beaman distribution, originally found to describe the
relationship
between prices and sales volumes of textiles and related products, is
shown to
fit closely U.S. Census data on individual incomes over the past twenty
years. The two parameters of the model
represent the minimum and median levels of income.
An important advantage of the Beaman distribution over
other
two-parameter models is that negative incomes can be accounted for.
Forthcoming in the Journal of Income Distribution
Mathematica notebook
containing all data and code.
Requires Mathematica or the
free MathReader, both
available at www.wolfram.com.
HTML version
of above notebook.
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