View Full Version : Income as a power law
Qenan
03-23-2005, 03:20 PM
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/images/USIncome.gif (http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2003/08/02.html#a350)
When I first looked at, I didn't realize there was a curve at all. I guess that's the point.
MikeSofaer
03-23-2005, 03:25 PM
That graph doesn't make any sense. The vertical axis isn't a dependent variable, as far as I can tell. What's wrong with a normal histogram?
Quaro
03-23-2005, 03:45 PM
If you think of it as: # of households that make this income or higher, it makes more sense.
MikeSofaer
03-23-2005, 03:57 PM
Well, maybe, but then you have the independant variable on the y axis and the dependant on the x axis, which is non-standard.
Maybe "income of the nth household, sorted by income" in which case all that graph tells you is that compared to Bill Gates you are merely backgroud signal. Which I'm already depressed enough about.
Lunch of Kong
03-23-2005, 04:51 PM
Chart it on a logarithmic scale.
Qenan- Wait, so some dude on some random blog makes a nonsense chart and you post it? What information did this chart impart to the reader? A 6th grade lesson on picking the correct scale?
Income disparity is best expressed by a Gini Coefficient, not two red lines at a 90 degree angle.
Tim Partlett
03-23-2005, 11:27 PM
It's not difficult to understand at all. It shows that a very few multi-millionaires in the US make shitloads, and the rest of you earn very little at all, relatively.
Bob Cherub
03-23-2005, 11:52 PM
I nominate this, alongside about 581 Midnight Son threads, as the most pointless post ever on Qt3!
Award ceremony will be held at the iHOP on Beach Street.
Midnight Son
03-24-2005, 05:24 AM
I nominate this, alongside about 581 Midnight Son threads, as the most pointless post ever on Qt3!
Award ceremony will be held at the iHOP on Beach Street.
Who gives a shit what you think? :roll:
Tim- It's not difficult to understand, it contains no meaningful information.
That chart is true even in a quasi-socialist wonderland like Canada. I could make the exact same chart about England or Germany, too. Given appropriate scale, that chart is true about every country in the world.
This obviously wasn't meant as a serious examination of income disparity. It was some dipshits not-very-clever class warfare whine.
Tim Partlett
03-24-2005, 07:20 AM
Ben it contains meaningful information:
"It shows that a very few multi-millionaires in the US make shitloads, and the rest of you earn very little at all, relatively."
You may not like the information or find it very useful, but it is meaningful.
Personally I'm not concerned about income disparity as long as people aren't living in poverty. As long as everyone is fed, clothed and housed reasonably then there can be as many multimillionares as the economy supports for all I care.
Midnight Son
03-24-2005, 07:31 AM
Personally I'm not concerned about income disparity as long as people aren't living in poverty. As long as everyone is fed, clothed and housed reasonably then there can be as many multimillionares as the economy supports for all I care.
I hear it works just fine in Europe. In the US, we believe that if you're poor, it is God's will. Fucking poor sinners!
Jason McCullough
03-24-2005, 09:34 AM
Tim- It's not difficult to understand, it contains no meaningful information.
That chart is true even in a quasi-socialist wonderland like Canada. I could make the exact same chart about England or Germany, too. Given appropriate scale, that chart is true about every country in the world.
This obviously wasn't meant as a serious examination of income disparity. It was some dipshits not-very-clever class warfare whine.
Yes, everyone country in the world has the same Gini index.
Kyle Wilson
03-24-2005, 12:45 PM
So, after all this, we know that Bill Gates made between 170 and 180 million dollars last year. Brilliant.
shift6
03-25-2005, 10:38 AM
I call bullshit on the meaningfulness of that chart. The vertical red line represents a 1 on the horizontal scale, meaning 1 million households. And I guaran-goddamn-tee that there are not 1 million households earning the full vertical representation of that line, ie $170+ million per year.
TurinTuramba
03-25-2005, 10:57 AM
of course the chart is stupid, but if you look closely, you can see that the vertical line gets closer to zero with higher income.
It is also bullshit in a vacuum.
The blogger, John Astin, is saying this represents a shift in power, without showing any previous data. How do we know this split in wealth hasn't always been similar? Don't tell me something is changing with one graph, you need two.
Also if he is just basing his data on the alternet article, he is making guestimates left and right on this. Not that it matters as I am sure the the data is similar, but this is classic blog BS being eaten up as fact. Guy sees data somewhere, makes some guesses based on data, posts his "findings" and then uses those findings to draw a conclusion based on a hunch, not data. Said post passed around as fact. YAY!! For blog news!!
This is comparable to a 15 year old walking out of the matrix and telling his mom "this is all a dream, we are really powered by machines, but dude really." The only difference is the mom has enough sense to not tell her friends, "we are powered by machines."
Chet
Tim- No, it shows that one guy made $180 million. Because the scale is so large, it makes someone making $800,000 the same as someone making $8,000. This isn't a reasonable examination of income disparity.
Jason- No, not every country in the world does. That's why a Gini Coef is valuable and useful information. The Gini Coef is the number, the chart is a Lorenz curve.
Just off the top of my head, I think America is like 2 tenths higher than Norway. Thus, America has greater income disparity. Ta-da, a conclusion derived from data!
This graph justs tells you 1. What the richest person made and 2. How many people there are.
Midnight- Why won't you ever just shut the fuck up? Youe combination of fanatical faith in your side and your barely 8th grade education might make you a great favorite at digitalunderground or whereever you came from, but this website is at least attempting a higher brand of discourse.
The adults are talking about big boy stuff, keep your goddamn mouth shut.
foogla
03-25-2005, 05:58 PM
You mean democratic underground. And you really don't want to go there.
Midnight Son
03-26-2005, 05:11 AM
Ben, fuck you mightily. I'm going to keep up the so-called "free speech" until it all comes crashing down. And now, due to your insults, I'll have to make sure to specifically piss you off. You fool.
Mike O'Malley
03-26-2005, 06:00 AM
Troll much?
Midnight Son
03-26-2005, 06:30 AM
Nevah!
Qenan
03-26-2005, 06:34 AM
This place is just getting stupid. Can't we disagree without hurling insults back and forth?
mouselock
03-26-2005, 07:48 AM
This place is just getting stupid. Can't we disagree without hurling insults back and forth?
In P&R? Have you been paying attention? :)
Jason McCullough
03-26-2005, 09:44 AM
Jason- No, not every country in the world does. That's why a Gini Coef is valuable and useful information. The Gini Coef is the number, the chart is a Lorenz curve.
Good point. Arrrr
Midnight- I can't imagine how you could possibly be more annoying than you are now, so that's sort of an empty threat.
Midnight Son
03-26-2005, 05:30 PM
Midnight- I can't imagine how you could possibly be more annoying than you are now, so that's sort of an empty threat.
Well.... I could TRY?
quatoria
03-26-2005, 10:22 PM
Are you implying that you're not currently trying to be as annoying as you possibly can? I ask, because that's the only way I can possibly explain your behavior to myself. You do get that he's right, don't you? Every liberal who posts on P&R cringes nearly every time you open your mouth, wondering how bad you'll make us all look by assosciation. You are our CindySue - only unluckily for us, you're not a trucker, so you don't vanish for a few weeks at a time.
Chris Nahr
03-27-2005, 03:09 AM
I like Midnight Son. I think he's funny!
Then again, I also liked Cleve.
Midnight Son
03-27-2005, 04:21 AM
I'm not a librul, bastiches! Anyway, I've got several new PS2 Rpgs, so I'm gonna be busy awhile. See ya!
Midnight Son
03-27-2005, 04:23 AM
I'm not a librul, bastiches! Anyway, I've got several new PS2 Rpgs, so I'm gonna be busy awhile. See ya!
quatoria
03-27-2005, 08:02 AM
I'm not a librul, bastiches! Anyway, I've got several new PS2 Rpgs, so I'm gonna be busy awhile. See ya!
You're not liberal. Right, how foolish of me. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be the soft tissue of a t-rex.
vBulletin® v3.8.4, Copyright ©2000-2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.