# Professor Xavier Gabaix's research on Zipf's Law is referenced

1 Faculty News February 6, 2017 ![RealClearPolitics 192 x 144](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/realclearpolitics192x144.jpg?itok=QZzwH8tl)>

Excerpt from [RealClearPolitics](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/02/06/the_us_megalopolis_isnt_as_politically_powerful_as_you_think_132990.html) -- "Zipf’s Law itself is interesting and important, but the mechanics behind it are what really help explain the persistent split we see in mega-urban/rest-of-the-U.S. population. Harvard Professor [Xavier Gabaix](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/xavier-gabaix) has written that Zipf’s Law will hold if every city, irrespective of its size, follows roughly the same random growth processes."

[Read more](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/02/06/the_us_megalopolis_isnt_as_politically_powerful_as_you_think_132990.html)