Lecture Notes: Distribution of Scores and Price's Law

Key Concepts

• Distribution of Scores:

  • The median person has not engaged in creative activities across various dimensions.
  • A small number of people are responsible for the majority of work and creative output.

• Price's Law:

  • Formula: The square root of the number of people in a domain do 50% of the work.
  • Example:
    • 10 employees: 3 do half the work.
    • 100 employees: 10 do half the work.
    • 10,000 employees: 100 do half the work.
  • Implications:
    • Competence grows linearly; incompetence exponentially.
    • As companies grow, the ratio of competent to incompetent employees worsens.
    • Layoffs can lead to loss of the most productive members.

Scientific Productivity (Doola Price)

• Distribution of Publications:
  • Median PhD graduate has one publication.
  • Number of publications decreases exponentially with increased productivity.
  • Hyperproductive individuals achieve the majority of scientific contributions.

Wealth and Creativity Distribution

• Similar distribution patterns in multiple fields:
  • Financial savings: Most people have little to no savings.
  • Classical music: Five composers dominate 50% of the repertoire.
  • Even within the works of these composers, a small percentage dominates airplay.

Other Examples of Distribution

• Sports achievements, city sizes, and other areas also follow this law.
• Monopoly analogy: Initial equal distribution ends with one player winning all.
  • Zero Phenomenon: Once at zero, you are out of the game.

Structural Inequality

• Built into systems rather than solely a result of structural inequalities.
• Wealth distribution:
  • 1% of people own most of the wealth.
  • This is a consequence of economic systems and trading games.

Economic Mobility

• Economic mobility within the top percentages:
  • 10% chance of being in the top 1% for a year in Canada and US.
  • 40% chance of being in the top 10% for a year.
  • Higher churn in Canada/US compared to Europe.

These notes outline the main ideas discussed in the lecture, focusing on the imbalanced distribution of work, creativity, and wealth as explained by Price's Law and related concepts.