TY - JOUR
T1 - Axiomatic tests for the Boltzmann distribution
AU - Cerreia-Vioglio, Simone
AU - Maccheroni, Fabio
AU - Marinacci, Massimo
AU - Rustichini, Aldo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA Medialab srl
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - The Boltzmann distribution family describes a single parameter (temperature) class of probability distributions over a state space; at any given temperature, the ratio of probabilities of two states depends exponentially on their difference in energy. Beyond physics, this distribution family is very popular in many important disciplines, under different names with different interpretations. Such widespread use in diverse fields suggests a common conceptual structure. We identify such a structure on the basis of few natural axioms that can be statistically tested. Our axiomatic characterization thus provides alternative empirical tests of the Boltzmannian modeling theories.
AB - The Boltzmann distribution family describes a single parameter (temperature) class of probability distributions over a state space; at any given temperature, the ratio of probabilities of two states depends exponentially on their difference in energy. Beyond physics, this distribution family is very popular in many important disciplines, under different names with different interpretations. Such widespread use in diverse fields suggests a common conceptual structure. We identify such a structure on the basis of few natural axioms that can be statistically tested. Our axiomatic characterization thus provides alternative empirical tests of the Boltzmannian modeling theories.
KW - Game theory
KW - General equilibrium models
KW - Mathematical economics
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U2 - 10.1088/1742-5468/abd4ce
DO - 10.1088/1742-5468/abd4ce
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100751601
SN - 1742-5468
VL - 2021
JO - Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
JF - Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
IS - 1
M1 - 013406
ER -