X∼Power(xmin,α)Y=ln(x/xmin)∼Exp(α−1)X ont une distribution exponentielle sur l'échelle logarithmique.
YX
α−1=λY(y)=limϵ↓01ϵ⋅P(y⩽Y⩽y+ϵ|Y⩾y)=limϵ↓01ϵ⋅P(ln(x)⩽ln(X)⩽ln(x)+ϵ|X⩾x)=limϵ↓0P(x⩽X⩽xeϵ|X⩾x)ϵ=limδ↓1P(x⩽X⩽δx|X⩾x)lnδ.
We can see from this hazard characterisation that P(x⩽X⩽δx|X⩾x)≈(α−1)lnδ for any small values of lnδ. Notice that this probability does not depend on the conditioning value x, which is the result of the constant-hazard property. Hence, for any conditioning values x,x′>xmin, and any small value lnδ, we have:
P(x⩽X⩽δx|X⩾x)≈P(x′⩽X⩽δx′|X⩾x′).
Hence, we see that the power-law can be characterised by the fact that this conditional probability is approximately the same regardless of the conditioning point. In the context of stock prices, if these follow a power-law then we can say that, the probability that the stock will "rise" by some proportion is not dependent on its present value†.
† We use "rise" loosely here, since we are talking about a single random variable, and we have not modelled a time-series of stock prices. Within out present context we refer to the probability of a "rise" in the stock price in the sense of a conditional probability that the price is within some interval above a lower bound, conditional on this lower bound.