Information technology and the rise of the power law economy
Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103212 |
| _version_ | 1810996776608464896 |
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| author | Saint-Jacques, Guillaume B |
| author2 | Erik Brynjolfsson. |
| author_facet | Erik Brynjolfsson. Saint-Jacques, Guillaume B |
| author_sort | Saint-Jacques, Guillaume B |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:18:32Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/103212 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:18:32Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1032122019-04-10T12:10:10Z Information technology and the rise of the power law economy Saint-Jacques, Guillaume B Erik Brynjolfsson. Sloan School of Management. Sloan School of Management. Sloan School of Management. Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 36-38). We show that the dramatically increasing share of income going to top earners can be explained by the rise of the "power law economy" and argue this reflects increased digitization and networks. Specifically, tax data (1960-2008) show that a bigger share of individual incomes are drawn from a power law, as opposed to the long-established log-normal distribution. We present a simple theoretical model to argue that the increased role of power laws is consistent with the growth of information technology, because digitization and networks facilitate winner-take-most markets. We generate four testable hypotheses, and find they match the data. (1) Our model, incorporating power laws, fits the data better than any purely log-normal distribution, (2) the increase in the variance of the log-normal portion of the distribution has slowed, suggesting a slowing of skill-biased technical change, (3) more individuals now select into the power law economy, (4) there is more skewness within that economy. by Guillaume B. Saint-Jacques. S.M. in Management Research 2016-06-22T17:47:49Z 2016-06-22T17:47:49Z 2015 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103212 951476240 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 38 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Sloan School of Management. Saint-Jacques, Guillaume B Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title | Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title_full | Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title_fullStr | Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title_short | Information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| title_sort | information technology and the rise of the power law economy |
| topic | Sloan School of Management. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103212 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saintjacquesguillaumeb informationtechnologyandtheriseofthepowerlaweconomy |