Temporal evolution of the “thermal” and “superthermal” income classes in the USA during 1983–2001
Temporal evolution of the “thermal” and “superthermal” income classes in the USA during 1983–2001
Personal income distribution in the USA has a well-defined two-class structure. The majority of population (97–99%) belongs to the lower class characterized by the exponential Boltzmann-Gibbs ("thermal") distribution, whereas the upper class (1–3% of the population) has a Pareto power law ("superthermal") distribution. By analyzing income data for 1983–2001, we …