The Gini coefficient is a statistical tool to measure income inequality within societies by comparing the real wealth distribution within that society with a theoretic equal distribution of the total wealth.
Steemit's Gini coefficient is 76 and therefore on par with Subsahara Africa and South America.
Today I was made aware of the Steemit Whales Service, where all users of Steemit are listed with their reputation, their Steem Dollars, their Steem Power and the total estimated value of their account. When I saw it I thought it is possible and might be interesting to see what Gini coefficient Steemit has.
Unfortunately, the site only displays 250 users at once which is why I only included the most valuable 1,000 accounts into the calculation. Despite that, the results are very telling.
The Gini Coefficient And My Approach Explained
- First I copy+pasted the first 40 pages with the biggest 1,000 Steemit Whales into a spread sheet. You can download it here or here.
- After checking for errors I listed them by value starting with the lowest and partitioned them in 10 deciles.
- Then I calculated the respective total value of every decile plus the total value of all 1,000 accounts and divided that through 10 to get to the average value of every decile.
- As next step I calculated the decile values as percentage of the total value (in the spreadsheet "% of Decile Equally Distributed" and "% of Decile In Reality").
- At first I aggregated the decile values in percentage and created the chart.
- And after that I subtracted the real values of the deciles from the average values of the deciles (also percentage).
- The results of the subtraction aggregated are the Gini coefficient.
The examples for the Gini coefficient I found used quartiles, but I don't think using deciles makes the result worse.
Steemits Gini Coefficient Is Concerning - And I Only Calculated It For The Top Ranks!
A Gini coefficient of 76% that I have calculated is worse than anything planet earth has to offer. It's comparable to a billionaire in his helicopter flying low over a slum in Caracas or Lagos. If you take him, his pilots and the million poor souls who live below them in the slum, then you probably get the same number.
The countries with the biggest income inequality according to a list on Wikipedia plus Steemit and its theoretic spot in the world.
I guess this situation is a normal sign of a brand new and growing place in the virtual space that is still finding itself. In the long run of course this massive inequality in the wealth distribution quite likely won't be a good thing. It might drive away new users when they realize that the cake has already been eaten.
On the other hand, the Gini coefficient is not perfect and no proof, but only an indicator that something is in disarray.
And it also could be of course that I have made a mistake in the calculation. Although considering the result - maybe I should hope that and the real result shows a bit more cohesion.
Really interesting stats to see, please keep us updated about this! Lets see if it will improve.
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You probably should not include the Top 10, because they are exchanges and the founders.
Or, just take out the exchanges and leave Dan and Ned. Which probably wouldn't help. Then you have to figure out all the puppet accounts used and who they are connected to.
Never mind, that's probably even more depressing.
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Very helpful. Thank you
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Very interesting... I guess/hope this will be regulated soon otherwise i believe people are going to loose interest. But I'm optimistic about it.
Nice post though. :)
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Awesome look - would be curious to see how this compares to other currencies!
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Confirms the suspicions doesnt it? Thanks @doodlebear!
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In den nächsten Monaten wird sich kaum was ändern, denke ich. Eher in den nächasten Jahren:) Wenn nicht getrickst wird, dauert sowas wohl seine Zeit.
Anders wärs mir aber deutlich lieber:)
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The point of decentralization is that things aren't regulated - consequently, steemit is an open market, and people are free to post just about whatever they want, as well as downvote respectively.
Naturally, there is going to be massive inequality unless individual users go out of their way to seek out new and fresh content and not just rely on their friends/established whales. It's up to us as individual steemians to find the content worth promoting - the "diamonds in the rough", so-to-speak. It's the only real, ethical way to bridge the gap.
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As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!
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Hey @doodlebear. Calculating the Gini Coefficient for Steemit is a really interesting idea. I am not at all surprised that the coefficient is so high. Those that joined in the early days of Steemit have grown very quickly. Back then there was limited competition and the value of Steem was very low. Entrants in 2017 face much stiffer competition from all the new entrants. The early entrants have seen the value of their Steem increase by 5 to 10 fold. They have also worked together for a long time and tend to upvote each other, thus furthering the gap from the newbies.
I don't expect the inequality to continue indefinitely. Many of the new entrants will be able to break through and close that gap. Bots will definitely help make that happen. There are also several really supportive Whales that are willing to dish out some high value upvotes as well. It is in the best for the Steemit top dogs to reduce inequality as this will atrract more people to Steemit and also keep a good level of retention here as well.
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100% of steem wealth is held by a tiny fraction of the world's population.
If you have one steem, you're in the top 00.00001%
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@mattclarke, nice way of putting this in perspective.
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This article is pretty much a slap in the face of new members wishing to make a quick profit in Steemit.
Thanks for sharing this information.
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This one is really informative. Please make more posts like this !!
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img credz: pixabay.com
Nice, you got a 5.0% @minnowbooster upgoat, thanks to @doodlebear
Want a boost? Minnowbooster's got your back!
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @doodlebear to be original material and upvoted it!
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Special thanks to @reggaemuffin for being a supporter! Vote him as a witness to help make Steemit a better place!
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There is a time disymmetry, the people who are here for a longer time earn more that the new comers. For a perfect distribution of wealth, have a look at http://en.trm.creationmonetaire.info/ and http://forum.duniter.org/
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