Anomaly, class division, and decoupling in income dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hur, Jaeseok, Ha, Meesoon, Jeong, Hawoong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hur, Jaeseok
Ha, Meesoon
Jeong, Hawoong
author_facet Hur, Jaeseok
Ha, Meesoon
Jeong, Hawoong
contents Economic inequality emerges from the interplay between regional growth-rate differences and the interaction network that couples regions. We propose a minimal income-dynamics model, where heterogeneity is governed by growth-rate assortativity $\mathcal{A}$ and regional concentration $\mathcal{R}$, allowing us to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of empirically observed log-income distributions. To systematically analyze these patterns, we derive closed-form approximations for the Hellinger distance and the Gini index in limiting configurations. Our findings highlight the spatial segregation of growth rates as a key driver of economic class division and demonstrate how small-world shortcuts in the underlying network can disrupt this segregation. Finally, our framework provides a robust explanation for the bimodality and strong regional correlations found in global income distributions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_08175
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Anomaly, class division, and decoupling in income dynamics
Hur, Jaeseok
Ha, Meesoon
Jeong, Hawoong
Statistical Mechanics
Physics and Society
Economic inequality emerges from the interplay between regional growth-rate differences and the interaction network that couples regions. We propose a minimal income-dynamics model, where heterogeneity is governed by growth-rate assortativity $\mathcal{A}$ and regional concentration $\mathcal{R}$, allowing us to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of empirically observed log-income distributions. To systematically analyze these patterns, we derive closed-form approximations for the Hellinger distance and the Gini index in limiting configurations. Our findings highlight the spatial segregation of growth rates as a key driver of economic class division and demonstrate how small-world shortcuts in the underlying network can disrupt this segregation. Finally, our framework provides a robust explanation for the bimodality and strong regional correlations found in global income distributions.
title Anomaly, class division, and decoupling in income dynamics
topic Statistical Mechanics
Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08175