Wealth Concentration Is Reaching Levels Incompatible With Democratic Stability
Problem Definition
Global wealth inequality has reached levels not seen since the Gilded Age. The top 1% own 43% of global wealth; the bottom 50% own 2%. The mechanisms driving concentration — capital returns exceeding growth (r>g), winner-take-all platform economics, undertaxed inheritance — are structural and accelerating. Extreme inequality undermines democratic institutions, reduces social mobility, depresses aggregate demand, and fuels populist instability.
Root Causes
Capital returns consistently exceed GDP growth, compounding wealth concentration across generations
Tax systems have shifted from progressive wealth taxes to consumption taxes and capital gains preferences over 40 years
Platform economics creates natural monopolies concentrating value in a small number of firms and founders
Inheritance and intergenerational wealth transfer is systematically undertaxed