Skip to main content
Log in

Generalized transfer principles in econometrics and informetrics

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The generalized (also called extended) transfer principles as introduced in two earlier papers by Egghe and Rousseau are known to be stronger properties than the classical transfer principle of Dalton. Hence, functions satisfying one of these generalized principles are very good concentration measures. This paper studies the following non-trivial problem: how many different generalized transfer principles can a function satisfy? We show that a function can, at most, satisfy one generalized transfer principle. This also shows that a further generalization of transfer principles, comprising the generalized ones, is not possible. The proof of this result involves the solution of a norm problem in mathematical analysis and analytical geometry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P.D. Allison, Measures of inequality,American Sociological Review, 43 (1978) 865–880.

    Google Scholar 

  2. P.D. Allison, Inequality and scientific productivity,Social Studies of Science, 10 (1980) 163–179.

    Google Scholar 

  3. A.B. Atkinson, On the measurement of inequality,Journal of Economic Theory, 2 (1970) 244–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. I.D. Chapman, C. Farina, Concentration of resources: the National Research Council's (Canada) grants in aid of research: 1964–1974,Scientometrics, 4 (1982) 105–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. S. Cole, The hierarchy of the sciences,American Journal of Sociology, 89 (1983) 111–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. H. Dalton, The measurement of the inequality of incomes,Economic Journal, 30 (1920) 248–361.

    Google Scholar 

  7. L. Egghe, Pratt's measure for some bibliometric distributions and its relation with the 80/20 rule,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 38 (1987) 288–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. L. Egghe, R. Rousseau, Elements of concentration theory,Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Bibliometrics, Scientometrics and Informetrics, London, (Canada), 1989, Elsevier, Amsterdam (1990) p. 97–137.

    Google Scholar 

  9. L. Egghe, R. Rousseau, Transfer principles and a classification of concentration measures.Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42 (1991) 479–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. C. Gini, Il diverso accrescimento della classi sociali e la concentrazione della ricchezza,Giornale degli Economisti, Serie 11 (1909) 37.

    Google Scholar 

  11. M.H. Heine, Indices of literature dispersion based on qualitative attributes,Journal of Documentation, 34 (1978) 175–188.

    Google Scholar 

  12. R.L. Johnson, Measures of vocabulary diversity. In: Advances in Computer-Aided Literary and Linguistic Research,D.E. Ager, F.E. Knowles, J. Smith (Eds), Birmingham, AMLC 1979, p. 213–227.

  13. A.D. Pratt, A measure of class concentration in bibliometrics,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 28 (1977) 285–292.

    Google Scholar 

  14. J.L. Ray, J.D. Singer, Measuring the concentration of power in the international system,Sociological Methods and Research, 1 (1973) 403–437.

    Google Scholar 

  15. H. Theil,Economics and Information Theory, Rand McNally, Chicago, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Egghe, L. Generalized transfer principles in econometrics and informetrics. Scientometrics 25, 167–191 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016853

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016853

Keywords

Navigation