Recent decades have seen spiralling fortunes of the super-rich across the globe, and the UK is a major hub for high earners.

The COVID world has also entailed a much larger state intervention than at any time since the 1950s, linked to the twin challenges of an aging society and the need to invest in net zero, alongside any costs of recovery. This is something both of the major political parties appear to have signed on to.

The question then is not only how much should we tax, but who should we tax, and how far the wealthy should be the focus of increased taxation. Questions of fairness will be central to the debate. In this event we present evidence on the trends in wealth inequality in society and reflect on the political challenges involved in addressing these. 

Meet our speakers and chair  

Aroop Chatterjee leads the research agenda on wealth inequality at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies. Aroop is currently developing a strategy to bring disparate streams of related research across disciplines and countries under the lens of wealth inequality. He is also focussed on using new and existing data to develop a wealth distribution in South Africa.  

Neil Cummins (@NJCummins) is Associate Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He works at the intersection of "big data" and economic history to exploit recently digitised historical genealogical data and answer questions about the origin of modern economic and demographic behaviour. 

Kristin Surak is Associate Professor of Political Sociology at LSE who has published widely on golden visa and golden passport programmes. In her forthcoming book, Citizenship 4 Sale: Millionaires, Microstates, and Mobility (Harvard University Press 2022), she takes her readers through the global market in the sale of citizenship to the wealthy.

Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE. He is co-founder and former director of LSE's International Inequalities Institute, leading the "Wealth, Elites and Tax Justice" research theme. 

More about this event  

This event is part of the LSE Festival: How Do We Get to a Post-COVID World? running from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 June 2022, with a series of events exploring the practical steps we could be taking to shape a better world.

The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Are the Rich Getting Richer? The Challenges of Wealth Inequality

A video of this event is available to watch at Are the Rich Getting Richer? The Challenges of Wealth Inequality

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.