Why Most Empirical Distributions Are Few-Modal

The past few decades have seen an explosion in the interest in cultural differences and their impact on many aspects of business management. A noticeable feature of most academic studies and practitioner approaches is the predominant use of national boundaries and group-level averages as delimiters and proxies for culture. However, this largely ignores the significance that intra-country differences and cross-country similarities can have for identifying psychological phenomena. This article argues for the importance of considering intra-cultural variation for establishing connections between two different cultures. It uses empirical distributions of cultural values that occur naturally within a country, thereby making intracultural differences interpretable and actionable. For measuring cross-country differences, the Gini/Weitzman overlapping index and the Kullback-Leibler divergence coefficient are used as difference measures between two distributions. The properties of these measures in comparison to traditional group-level mean-based distance measures are analyzed, and implications for cross-cultural and international business research are discussed.

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Theoretical and empirical distributions of lengths of disperse surface cracks

Strength of Materials ◽

10.1007/bf00777216 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 6-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

S. R. Ignatovich ◽

G. A. Trokoz ◽

S. I. Iovenko ◽

N. V. Grishchenko

Keyword(s):

Surface Cracks ◽

Empirical Distributions

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Analyzing the Gender Gap in Poland and Italy, and by Regions

International Advances in Economic Research ◽

10.1007/s11294-020-09810-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 433-447

Author(s):

Francesca Greselin ◽

Alina Jȩdrzejczak

Keyword(s):

Income Inequality ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Full Range ◽

Regional Differentiation ◽

Relative Distribution ◽

The European Union ◽

Distribution Method ◽

Income Distributions ◽

Empirical Distributions ◽

Women's Earnings

AbstractHigh-income inequality, accompanied by substantial regional differentiation, is still a great challenge for social policymakers in many European countries. One of the important elements of this phenomenon is the inequality between income distributions of men and women. Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, the distributions of income for Italy and Poland were compared, and the gender gap in these countries was assessed. No single metric can capture the full range of experiences, so a set of selected tools were adopted. The Dagum model was fitted to each distribution, summary measures, like the Gini and Zenga inequality indices, were evaluated, and the Zenga curve was employed to detect changes at each income quantile. Afterward, empirical distributions were compared through a relative approach, providing an analytic picture of the gender gap for both countries. The analysis moved beyond the typical focus on average or median earnings differences, towards a focus on how the full distribution of women’s earnings relative to men’s compares. The analysis was performed in the different macroregions of the two countries, with a discussion of the results. The study revealed that income inequality in Poland and Italy varies across gender and regions. In Italy, the highest inequality was observed in the poorest region, i.e. the islands. On the contrary, in Poland, the highest inequality occurred in the richest region, the central one. The relative distribution method was a powerful tool for studying the gender gap.

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Empirical Distributions

Applications of Quality Control in the Service Industries ◽

10.1201/9781482293210-15 ◽

1985 ◽

pp. 163-176

Keyword(s):

Empirical Distributions

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Generating Empirical Core Size Distributions of Hedonic Games Using a Monte Carlo Method

International Game Theory Review ◽

10.1142/s0219198922500013 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 2250001

Author(s):

Andrew J. Collins ◽

Sheida Etemadidavan ◽

Wael Khallouli

Keyword(s):

Monte Carlo ◽

Monte Carlo Method ◽

Numerical Approach ◽

Core Stability ◽

Size Distributions ◽

Core Size ◽

Empirical Distributions ◽

Research Findings ◽

Hedonic Games ◽

Partition Size

Hedonic games have gained popularity over the last two decades, leading to several research articles that have used analytical methods to understand their properties better. In this paper, a Monte Carlo method, a numerical approach, is used instead. Our method includes a technique for representing, and generating, random hedonic games. We were able to create and solve, using core stability, millions of hedonic games with up to 16 players. Empirical distributions of the hedonic games’ core sizes were generated, using our results, and analyzed for games of up to 13 players. Results from games of 14–16 players were used to validate our research findings. Our results indicate that core partition size might follow the gamma distribution for games with a large number of players.

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Cross-cultural data shows musical scales evolved to maximise imperfect fifths

10.31234/osf.io/a97x4 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

John Mcbride ◽

Tsvi Tlusty

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Empirical Data ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Harmonic Series ◽

Selection Pressures ◽

Empirical Distributions ◽

Efficient Communication ◽

The World ◽

Cultural Data ◽

Musical Scales

Musical scales are used throughout the world, but the question of how they evolved remains open. Some suggest that scales based on the harmonic series are inherently pleasant, while others propose that scales are chosen that are easy to communicate.However, testing these theories has been hindered by the sparseness of empirical evidence. Here, we assimilate data from diverse ethnomusicological sources into a cross-cultural database of scales. We generate populations of scales based on multiple theories and assess their similarity to empirical distributions from the database. Most scales tend to include intervals which are close in size to perfect fifths (“imperfect fifths”), and packing arguments explain the salient features of the distributions. Scales are also preferred if their intervals are compressible, which may facilitate efficient communication and memory of melodies. While scales appear to evolve according to various selection pressures, the simplest, imperfect-fifths packing model best fits the empirical data.

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