Monday, January 5, 2015

Visualising BSE-500 Market Capitalisation: Power Law all the way

In this Information age, it is the normal distribution which appears abnormal; it no longer deserves that name. It is power law that we see everywhere. While this has amassed fortunes for many entrepreneurs, it has also resulted in a highly skewed/unequal distribution.
A similar skewed distribution - a winner take all - Power Law kind of distribution is seen even in the market capitalisation of companies. Shown below in the interactive Tableau Dashboard is the market capitalisation of the 500 Companies constituting the BSE 500.
Click on any industry to see the same skewed pattern of market caps for companies forming a part of the Index.
I will be exploring the widespread prevalence of power law in the information age in subsequent blog posts.