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It could be that the magnitude of successes tends to result from the multiplication of several factors, talent being one of them. Luck and location are two othe
by nopinsight 9y ago
It could be that the magnitude of successes tends to result from the multiplication of several factors, talent being one of them. Luck and location are two other candidates.
If the factors are roughly independent and normally distributed, the output could be approximated fairly well with Log-Normal Distribution which often appears very similar to Power Law Distribution given certain assumptions.
- nopinsight 9y agoCorrection for above: Each factor needs not be normally distributed, just independent. Evidence that suggests Log-Normal is at least as plausible as Power Law as a model for wealth distribution: "Using recently developed empirical methodology for detecting power-law behaviour introduced by Clauset et al. we have found that top wealth values follow the power-law behaviour only in 35% of analysed cases. Moreover, even if the data do not rule out the power-law model usually the evidence in its favour is not conclusive – some rivals, most notably the log-normal and stretched exponential distributions, are also plausible fits to wealth data." https://arxiv.org/pdf/1304.0212.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1304.0212.pdf