Extreme Wealth Research Articles

The expressive injustice of being rich

According to limitarianism, it is morally impermissible to be too rich. We consider three main challenges to limitarianism: the redundancy objection, the inconclusiveness objection, and the commitment objection. As a distributive principle, we find that limitarianism fails to overcome the three objections—even taking recent theoretical innovations into account. Instead, we suggest that the core commitment of limitarianism can be drawn from the excess intuition. It entails that at some point, people's claims to retain wealth become qualitatively different: they become preposterous from the point of view of interpersonal morality and justification. Extreme wealth, we argue, adds a distinctive expressive reason to worry about inequality and insufficiency, compounding these other distributive injustices. In retaining or wasting excess wealth while others have too little, the wealthy send a message of complete disregard for the interests of their co-citizens. They express that their disadvantaged compatriots have a diminished moral standing.

Wealth and history: A reappraisal

The study revisits trends and drivers of wealth inequality and accumulation since the onset of industrialization. Empirical analysis reveals that Western countries are both wealthier and more equal today than a century ago. Wealth concentration has declined in all countries over the past century, remaining at historically low levels in Europe, while rising in the United States. These trends are largely driven by new wealth accumulation among the lower and middle classes, primarily through housing and pension savings, rather than a decline in the fortunes of the affluent. The findings challenge the view that unregulated capitalism inevitably leads to extreme wealth concentration and question the idea that wealth equalization requires shocks to capital, such as wars or progressive taxation. Instead, the evidence emphasizes the equitable effects of economic and political institutions that enable ordinary individuals to build personal wealth.

An anticipatory regime of multiplanetary life: on SpaceX, Martian colonisation and terrestrial ruin

ABSTRACT In recent years, the aerospace engineering corporation SpaceX has been a vocal – and perhaps the foremost – contributor to the recent repopularisation of a discourse proposing the colonisation of Mars. This discourse has been intensively generative: SpaceX’s press releases regularly command prominent headlines in the news; the social media posts of Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, invariably attract thousands of replies; and a lively meme culture further amplifies what Musk himself has described as a mission to ‘make life multiplanetary’ – an imagined future in which humans have ‘occupied’ Mars. Such speculations about the future can be understood as ‘anticipatory regimes’ in which some notional, wished-for possibility is legitimised through historical narratives and inflected with the anxieties and hopes of the present. For SpaceX, this has involved assuming the inevitability of terrestrial ruin while mobilising a powerful discourse of great men and scientific endeavour embedded in the logics of colonial and capitalist expansion. This anticipatory regime occupies a prominent and generative position in net culture, but it also functions to obscure other possibilities for meaningful alternatives and urgent action in the here and now. To pursue the mission to make life multiplanetary is to marginalise urgent, vital discussions concerning colonial reckoning, environmental reconciliation, and the redistribution of extreme wealth disparities.

Commentary] The Paradox of Wealth: A Satirical Exploration of Intelligence and Financial Success

This brief commentary presents a satirical examination of the relationship between wealth and intelligence, challenging the conventional wisdom that links financial success with rational decision-making. Through humorous and provocative arguments, the manuscript posits that achieving extreme wealth often involves taking significant risks, which may be seen as irrational or “stupid” by conventional standards. Using a combination of economic theory and anecdotal evidence, the discussion explores how high-risk decisions can lead to substantial financial gains, while also highlighting the absurdity of measuring personal qualities by wealth. This analysis aims to provoke thoughtful reflection on societal values and the true determinants of financial success. By engaging with themes such as risk-taking, economic theory, and societal perceptions of wealth, this concise contribution invites a broader discussion on the nature of financial success and the qualities it truly reflects.

Walls and openings: The politics of containment of informal communities in Islamabad

In many large cities today, spaces of extreme wealth and poverty often exist in proximity. City officials, private developers and wealthy residents often ‘correct’ this cheek-by-jowl situation of proximate yet drastically unequal communities by building physical walls and fences between them. What is the interface between spaces inside and outside the walls built around low-income communities in elite neighbourhoods? How do people living inside the walls built to contain their communities engage with this infrastructure of control? This article addresses these questions by presenting the politics of socio-spatial separation of a low-income and informally built walled community called France Colony in a wealthy neighbourhood in Islamabad (Pakistan). It shows how the wall around France Colony is not only an ineffective sealing device; its porosity has also ironically prompted adjacent wealthy residents to retreat inside their large homes and raise their boundary walls. Not only do walls make obvious the intentions and anxieties of people on the outside trying to control the presence and growth of a low-income community, but spatial practices and negotiations around involuntarily built enclosures can minimise their restrictive intent and provide opportunities for enclosed communities to demand their rights to space.

Truth and (Mis)Information in the High-Tech Empires: Case Study: Cosmopolis: a novel, by Don DeLillo

Our contemporary time is marked by an endless flow of data that is exchanged between nations, companies, and individuals at a nanosecond timescale. All this data flow, which Katherine Hales calls “information overload”, is facilitated by the spread of computer software and digital devices that have colonized every corner on the globe. Today no secret is hidden; information is available and access to it is getting liberated from the confines of the enclosed files. Entrepreneurs, decision-makers, politicians, researchers and even common people, to mention just a few categories, each has built some kind of a digital fortress that secures its data and transmits only the information that suits its interests to the (digital) world. Yet, high-tech empires are no more than a double-edged weapon that (mis)informs not only consumers and adversaries but also the high-tech owners themselves. While high-technologies have been viewed as a sign of extreme knowledge, power and wealth, they have in fact deprived humans of their natural ‘humanity’ one way or another. More than that, instead of providing absolute knowledge as they are supposed to do, they hide the dark truth and what they really provide is no more than a mere illusion. Taking the example of Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis: a novel, this novel envisages the influence of high-technologies on the contemporary Man and exposes the double facets of the computer and wireless networks. Through the protagonist Eric Packer, DeLillo portrays the digital world from different perspectives and lays bare the inconveniences of high-technologies as they eventually turn out to hide the ‘truth’ instead of revealing it to their owner. Indeed, the protagonist’s blind trust in his high-tech empire was caused by misinformation rather than by objective recognition of the concrete world that surrounds him. In Cosmopolis: a novel the author warns his readers that it is wiser to keep a certain amount of doubt and criticism while dealing with Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.

What’s Wrong With Extreme Wealth?

The expansion in the wealth of the extremely wealthy has received much attention in recent public and academic debate. In political theory, the phenomenon has only recently begun to be scrutinized. This article builds on these preliminary steps, exploring the normative reasons we have to worry about extreme wealth. Looking at the issues, first, through a distributive lens, we reveal that the excess wealth of the extremely wealthy compounds the injustice of inequality and insufficiency, making the situation distinctly unjust. Through a relational lens, we see that extreme wealth may create societal segregation, which poses distinct threats to solidarity. Finally, when the two previous perspectives interact, the particular ways in which the wealthy can influence society, change rules and norms and bend existing regulation to their advantage open up the possibility of vicious societal feedback loops.

The 0.0003 Percent: Short‐Run Dynamics of Extreme Wealth in America

This paper examines short‐run dynamics and changing sources of wealth among the Forbes 400 annual list of wealthiest individuals in the United States, before and after the 2008–2009 financial crisis. We analyze the interaction of growth of wealth with education, age, and being self‐made versus inheriting wealth. We find evidence of conditional convergence of wealth within the group. The wealth of the self‐made grew faster than their counterparts, though less so after the crisis. Those with advanced degrees had higher pre‐crisis growth of wealth than those without such degrees. Controlling for these characteristics, age was not a factor in wealth accumulation. Mobility in and out of the group was higher pre‐crisis.

A Revolution in Property: Tocqueville and Beaumont on Democratic Inheritance Reform

Abstract Among the most controversial reforms investigated by Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont was the idea of using inheritance as an instrument to diffuse property ownership. This article offers the first comparative account of the development of this concept across each of their major works. By situating their interventions within wider inheritance law debates, it is demonstrated how their evolving visions of democracy forced them to innovatively combine two normative arguments: (i) diffusing property ownership via inheritance was a precondition for placing democracy upon stable political foundations, and (ii) this could counter the rise of pauperism and the extreme wealth inequality of nineteenth-century industrial society. Far from being an anachronistic republican notion, such reforms were long considered too radical to be implemented in England and Ireland.

Land, Private Property, and the Universal Destination of Goods: A Catholic Perspective on Economic Inequality in Latin America

Abstract Latin America is plagued by extreme wealth inequality, much of which results from sharp disparities in land ownership. In addition to limiting access of basic goods to millions of Latin Americans, concentrations in land ownership harm the common good. Extreme disparities correlate to sluggish economic growth, inefficient agricultural practices, weakened public institutions, income disparities, and sharp increases in environmental degradation. A related concern is the destruction of indigenous peoples’ land in the Amazon and denial of access to land that is rightfully theirs. This paper examines how resources from Catholic Social Teaching help us reflect critically upon and respond to these injustices. It analyzes in particular how Pope Francis and the Amazonian bishops apply the tradition in markedly new ways, ways that are shaped by and directed to this diverse, abundant and unique socio-geographical region. Attention is paid not only to what Catholic Social Teaching can bring to local justice issues, but also lessons indigenous peoples can teach the broader Church.

A Wealth Distribution Agent Model Based on a Few Universal Assumptions.

We propose a new agent-based model for studying wealth distribution. We show that a model that links wealth to information (interaction and trade among agents) and to trade advantage is able to qualitatively reproduce real wealth distributions, as well as their evolution over time and equilibrium distributions. These distributions are shown in four scenarios, with two different taxation schemes where, in each scenario, only one of the taxation schemes is applied. In general, the evolving end state is one of extreme wealth concentration, which can be counteracted with an appropriate wealth-based tax. Taxation on annual income alone cannot prevent the evolution towards extreme wealth concentration.

Addressing the rise of inequalities: How relevant is Rawls's critique of welfare state capitalism?

Addressing the rise of inequalities: How relevant is Rawls's critique of welfare state capitalism?

‘How the other half lives’?: Taking a critical approach to the social psychology of economic inequality and extreme wealth

AbstractThe negative impact of economic inequality on social issues and wellbeing is of importance to social psychology that historically has an interest in social justice. Social Identity Theory is explored as an approach that acknowledges the wider context of social issues. The use of experiments encounters challenges in categorizing wealth and how individuals account for extreme wealth. Mainstream research agendas in psychology are not neutral and draw upon current ideology (such as neoliberalism) that can often maintain inequality. These difficulties are addressed by Critical Social Psychology driven by a social justice agenda that challenges the acceptance of neoliberal values. The application of Critical Social Psychology to wealth inequality is demonstrated with research using UK media data. Critical feminist psychology is discussed to explore the role of class and how to challenge the stigmatization of working‐class people. Finally, this paper outlines how Discursive Psychology addresses how extreme wealth and the practices of the super‐rich are warranted. A discursive approach questions the acceptance of wealth inequality as an everyday assumption and demonstrates how dominant discourse draws upon individualism. Furthermore, Discursive Psychology has examined how accountability for problematic practices, such as tax avoidance that maintain inequality, are managed in media broadcasts.

What did those who were “Present at the Transition” Miss? The Creation of Powerful Presidential Families in Central Asia

A striking feature of Havrylyshyn's book present at the transition is the space and emphasis that he gives to elites. He contrasts the new rich in Central European Big Bang countries, who formed a capitalist class that supported further reforms and consolidation of the new economic system, with the new rich in countries with gradual reforms or where an early Big Bang was aborted and old communist-era elites were able to short-circuit the reform process. This paper argues that, although Havrylyshyn's focus on the oligarchs of Russia and Ukraine may be justified by their status as the two largest Soviet successor states, they were not typical of the non-Baltic former Soviet republics. In the Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, extreme wealth has become concentrated in the presidential families and their associates. This pattern has had specific and pernicious consequences.

Introduction: Symposium Limitarianism: Extreme Wealth as a Moral Problem

The growing concentration of wealth has acquired a new urgency in recent years. One particular view in this context is developed by Ingrid Robeyns in her ground-breaking work on limitarianism. According to this view, no one should have more than a certain amount of valuable goods, such as income and wealth. The contributors to this symposium, Brian Berkey, David Axelsen and Lasse Nielsen, Jessica Flanigan and Christopher Freiman, and Lena Halldenius, critically examine various aspects of limitarianism. In particular, they examine how limitarianism should be interpreted and developed as a principle of justice, on what reasons speak in favour and against limitarianism, and on how limitarianism relates to other principles of distributive justice. Our hope is that this symposium will contribute to the ongoing debate in political philosophy about the concentration of wealth and economic justice.

Wealth Without Limits: in Defense of Billionaires.

In this essay we argue against preventing people from amassing extreme wealth via increased taxation. The first argument in favor of such a proposal, recently advanced by Ingrid Robeyns (2018), states that billionaires' resources would be better spent addressing morally important goals such as meeting disadvantaged people's needs and solving collective action problems. In response to this claim, we argue that billionaires are typically in a better position to benefit the poor and to solve collective action problems than public officials. The second argument in favor of preventing extreme wealth accumulation, advanced by Robeyns and Robert Reich (2018), states that billionaires have an inappropriate amount of influence in public life, which undermines political equality. We argue that corporate leaders tend to be more accountable to their fellow citizens than public officials. We then consider and criticize the objection that billionaires' success is typically a result of public investment, which entitles public officials to enforce taxes that demand a return on the public investment.

Blockchain in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Opportunities for Regional Integration and Economic Growth

Composed of an assortment of countries with vast differences in economic and political development, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has historically been slow to embrace integration. The region consists of a diverse mix of countries with complex colonial legacies, ongoing warfare, tribal and religious enmity, and extreme wealth disparity. Recent advances in technology have the potential to enable greater cohesion and development. One such innovation is blockchain, an immutable distributed ledger technology that eliminates intermediaries and revolutionizes how transactions take place over the Internet. While originating as the technology underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain has been applied in many other areas in which data integrity and transparency is vital and has been adopted around the world. This paper explores blockchain adoption in the MENA region, focusing on the financial systems, government policies, and innovation ecosystems within the member countries. Huge discrepancies in the levels of development and adoption of the technology in the MENA countries are revealed, with Israel and several of the oil-rich Gulf states being the most advanced. Examples of blockchain-related collaborations among MENA nations are presented and the future trajectory of blockchain adoption is explored. Keywords: MENA, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Middle East, North Africa, Regional integration

Re-thinking the drivers of regular and irregular migration: evidence from the MENA region

Why do individuals vary in their desire to emigrate? Why are some willing to emigrate irregularly? This article tests four theoretical approaches—socio-demographics; economic and political context; access to migrant networks; and psychological factors—across the Middle East and North Africa region. Data from the Arab Barometer is used to show that the most prevalent factors are youth, university education, being male, and stress levels as well as negative economic and political perceptions, being unmarried, trust in social media, remittances, and low religiosity. Notably, economic factors such as unemployment and income are shown to rarely have an effect. The determinants of being willing to emigrate without papers are fewer and distinct: gender and lower income especially as well as lower education and negative economic and political perceptions. Several contributions to our understanding of emigration are made: a two-step model of irregular emigration based on findings across 12 countries, new evidence of the complex and, within-country, muted role of economic factors, the centrality of psychology, and how, tentatively, it appears that both extreme wealth and war interact with the most fundamental socio-demographic drivers.

Intergenerational Social Mobility in Post-Reform Contemporary China

While post-1978 China has seen great socio-economic liberation of a large group of its people, this large nation is still known for its high levels of social inequality and extreme wealth discrepancy. Following the Xi administration’s recent efforts to address social inequality, this study investigates how levels of social mobility have changed since the Reform era and what are the predictors of social mobility in the new generation of Chinese using national microdata derived from the World Values Survey conducted in 2018. My analysis finds that changes in absolute mobility levels differ significantly along class lines, wherein agricultural workers have experienced an increase in upward occupational mobility into secondary sectors while class closure has taken root more deeply within the upper elites, creating a system of closed ranks. This can be largely traced back to two mechanisms: the decreasing significance of education as a social leveller and the rise in levels of status inheritance.

Situating Conceptuality in Non-Fungible Token Art

Situating Conceptuality in Non-Fungible Token Art