The Wealth Gap Myth: Why Everything You Thought About Inequality is Wrong

Daniel Waldenström, Research Institute Stockholm
28.04.2025, 18:00 - 19:30

Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria,
Max-Joseph-Straße 2,
80333 Munich

Professor Daniel Waldenström talks about his new book, "Richer and More Equal: A New History of Wealth in the West.”

Since the late 1800s the size of the middle class rises and so does its share of society’s total wealth. This is what Waldenström shows, using cutting-edge research and new, sometimes surprising, data. Unfettered capitalism, it seems, doesn’t have to lead to boundless inequality. The key to progress was political and institutional change that enabled citizens to become educated, better paid, and to amass wealth through housing and pension savings.

How can we consolidate these gains while encouraging the creation of new capital?

The answer, he argues, is to pursue tax and social policies that raise the wealth of people in the bottom and middle rather than cutting wealth of entrepreneurs at the top.

Join us for a discussion.

Moderation: Lisa Nienhaus, head of the economics department at Süddeutsche Zeitung.