## International Reserves—Too Much of a Zipf’s Thing

_IMF Working Papers, January 1, 2008_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [International Reserves—Too Much of a Zipf’s Thing](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/international-reserves-too-much-of-a-zipfs-thing-21597)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Mariusz A. Sumlinski
- Published: January 1, 2008
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451868739.001

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### Core finding
- The cross-sectional distribution of international reserves conforms to Zipf's law: the size of reserves is inversely related to their ranking.
- Growth rates of international reserves bear only a very weak relationship to their initial stocks (scaled by GDP or in absolute terms).

### Evidence and robustness
- Evidence in favor of Zipf's law for international reserves is described as strong and time robust.

### Comparison with WEO projections
- The cross-sectional distribution of international reserves embedded in the WEO projections is much less concentrated than implied by Zipf's law.

### Subject tags and keywords (as provided)
- Subjects: International reserves, Population and demographics, Reserve assets, Reserves accumulation, Stocks
- Keywords: growth rate, law influence, reserve, WP

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/international-reserves-too-much-of-a-zipfs-thing-21597_