Story Name: Billionaires 1992
Story Topics: Economics
Datafile Name:
Billionaire.data. From: statlib.
Methods: ANCOVA
, Distribution
, Interaction
, Transformation
Abstract: Fortune magazine publishes a list of the world's billionaires
each year. The 1992 list includes 233 individuals. Their wealth, age, and
geographic location (Asia, Europe, Middle East, United States, and Other)
are reported.
The variable 'wealth' is right skewed, so the median exceeds the mean.
There is a question of how we might look at the wealth distribution. We
have here the upper tail of the distribution of the wealth of all humans.
It is rare to know the extreme values of any distribution based on so many
individuals. A common assumption about the distribution of wealth is that
its logarithm is roughly Normal. If so, then the logarithm of these wealth
values will still be skewed. Experiment shows that '1/wealth' is more nearly
symmetric, but other transformations may be more appropriate.
A Pie chart or bar chart can indicate how the billionares are distributed
around the world.
A scatterplot of '1/wealth' vs 'age' shows very little trend. Fitting
lines individually by part of the world, shows a negative trend in '1/wealth'
vs. 'age' for the Mideast that stands out from the other parts of the world.
This makes sense because a negative association between '1/wealth' and
'age' implies a positive relationship between 'wealth' and 'age'.
Fitting a model with the continuous explanatory variable 'age' and
the discrete explanatory variable 'region' is an analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA) with parallel regression lines for each region, each with a different
intercept but the same slope of 'age'. Adding an 'age*region' interaction
allows the slope for each regression line to be different.
Image: Scatterplot of '1/wealth' vs. 'age' with regression lines
colored by 'region'
Reference: Fortune, September 7,1992. "The Billionaires." pp. 98-138.
Authorization: free use
Description: Fortune magazine publishes the list of billionaires annually. The 1992 list included 233 individuals or families. Their wealth, age and geographic location (Asia, Europe, Middle East, United States or Other) is reported.
Number of cases: 233
Variable Names:
- wealth: Wealth of family or individual in millions of dollars
- age: Age in years (for families it is the maximum age of family members)
- region: Region of the World (Asia, Europe, Middle East, United States and Other)