6533b821fe1ef96bd127b3ea
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Pareto or log-normal? Best fit and truncation in the distribution of all cities
Giorgio FazioMarco Modicasubject
City size distributions Pareto Log-Normal Truncation pointSettore SECS-P/06 - Economia Applicatadescription
In the literature, the distribution of city size is a controversial issue with two common contenders: the Pareto and the log-normal. While the first is most accredited when the distribution is truncated above a certain threshold, the latter is usually considered a better representation for the untruncated distribution of all cities. In this paper, we reassess the empirical evidence on the best-fitting distribution in relation to the truncation point issue. Specifically, we provide a comparison among four recently proposed approaches and alternative definitions of U.S. cities. Our results highlight the importance to look at issue of the best-fitting distribution together with the truncation issue and provide guidance with respect to the existing tests of the truncation point.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-01-01 |