Singer and the Pareto distribution: A note

Abstract

Singer was the first to draw attention to the fact that the Pareto Law (originally employed to describe income inequality) could also be applied to the size distribution of urban centres. His argument was illustrated with evidence from seven nations at various points in time. As part of his study, Singer attempted to demonstrate two propositions relating to the Pareto distribution of centre size. One was that the populations of larger centres could be described by the Pareto distribution, while the other was that the populations of the smaller (non-urban) centres would also conform to this distribution. It is argued that neither proposition can be regarded as valid.