Reply To: Historical data on wealth distribution

[jmherbener]

Perhaps it’s best to take it the way Murray Rothbard takes the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Namely as a universal, qualitative principle of human social interaction. Just like in any human organization, an elite will rise to the top to acquire a disproportionate amount of decision-making authority in the organization, in any economy, an elite will rise to the top to earn a disproportionate amount of income and wealth.

http://mises.org/fipandol/fipsec4.asp

The condition that gives rise to both the Iron Law of Oligarchy and Pareto’s Law is the differences among human persons.