Investigating the distribution of personal income obtained from the recent U.S. data

This study considered the conservation of money in a closed economic system. In such system, the probability distribution of money is exponential, and similar to the Boltzmann-Gibbs function in a closed energy system. The theoretical concept of econophysics is compared here with empirical data. The current work analyzes the recent data with regard to personal income distribution obtained from United States Census Bureau for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. The data was best fitted with the exponential function, which supports the theoretical assumption for the income of the majority of the population. This study also investigates this distribution for a population with high personal income.

Research Highlights► The theoretical concept of econophysics is compared with empirical data. ► The data with regard to income distribution obtained from United States is analyzed. ► The data was best fitted with the exponential function.