Directed Polymers and the Distribution of Wealth

[McNally, David J. (LNG-MBC)]

These physicists seem to have figured out that we're stuck with small
numbers of people getting all the wealth.

http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0819/money.html

WHY do rich people have all the money? This may
sound like the world's silliest question, but it's
not. In every society, most of the wealth falls into
the hands of a minority. People often write this
off as a fact of life--something we can do nothing
about--but economists have always struggled to
explain why the wealthy take such a big slice of
the pie. 

If Jean-Philippe Bouchaud and Marc Mézard are
right, it is more than a fact of life: it's a law of
nature. These two scientists have discovered a
link between the physics of materials and the
movements of money, a link that explains why
wealth is distributed in much the same way in all
modern economies. Their theory holds out a scrap
of hope to the poor of the world: there may be
some surprising ways to make society a bit more
equal. And it promises a new fundamental science
of money. Economic theory is about to grow up.

....

David.