Mathematical and computer modelling of the Pareto principle

The well-known Pareto principle states that approximately 80% of wealth was concentrated in about 20% of a population. Two problems have been reported on the abuse of the 80/20 phenomenon: (1) the measure deviates from 80/20 in many applications of the principle; under what condition, then, will the 80/20 rule be true? And, (2) if the 80/20 measure is correct at the time of analysis, will it be true over time? In this paper, we address these two problems by conducting mathematical modelling and computer simulations of the Pareto principle. Several significant factors influencing the phenomenon are identified.