The Information Theory of Comparisons

This book finds a broad domain of relevance in statistics and the social sciences. Its conceptual development is supported by applications to economics and income distribution, finance, education, demographics and actuarial science, political studies, psychology, and general statistics.

Fresh perspectives on directional complexity have generated an informational theory of ‘more versus less’, with representative polar outcomes as good or bad, or rich or poor. New duality metrics for spread and asymmetry have resulted, motivated by internal perspectives on the part of subjects, such as attitudes to their comparative (dis)advantage. This book is a readable review of these developments. Concepts and applications are described in tandem with each other. They consolidate recent contributions to the research literature, augmented with fresh insights and applications. Dynamic extensions include modeling shifting social attitudes, while the broader agenda encompasses topical areas such as subjectivist probability, investment decision making, and income distribution.