The future of wealth seems to point towards luck rather than earning it
The relationship between income and wealth continues to rise around the globe, and Thomas Piketty sees no evidence to suggest a change in that trend. If that is the case, the coming decades will look a lot like the economic situation in the 10th century. At that point, the wealthy inherited their lot and didn’t work for it at all.
You might wonder why nobody has noticed that this trend has been gaining speed. But Picketty argues that it has been noticed. He points to an example in Jane Austen’s writing, when a man’s income came from rent from his inherited estate and not from any work he did.
⚡️For an economy to thrive, it needs to contain booming industries with a lot of competition to drive sales. Hereditary riches do nothing for economic success.
Of course, the idea of inherited wealth isn’t too far away from the class system that was primarily established during Victorian Britain.
At that time, the elite were from wealthy families, with wealth passed down through the generations. Few businesses became genuinely successful, and as a result, very few business owners were considered highly wealthy. That does nothing for the business market and, of course, not a lot for the economy either.
According to Thomas Piketty, the rich list will consist of relatives a few generations down from the current millionaires we have today, not go-getting entrepreneurs and tech start-ups.