Abstract :
We present a model describing a generic process in which a finite resource is partitioned and distributed among agents. Through numerical simulation we show that the model considered is able to originate, within a unifying approach, a variety of broad distributions and provides an interpretation of empirical properties of distributions observed in the real world. In particular it allows to relate the exponent of the power-law part of the distributions to resource abundance and accessibility, while the left-end exponential behavior, observed in many distributions, is related to the presence of dissipative effects.
