(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Falling Birth Rates are Contributing to Wealth Concentration [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-10-02  

In prior centuries, in many cultures, the eldest surviving son inherited all of a family’s wealth (if there was any). This is called primogeniture. Some economic historians see this capital accumulation as a key prerequisite to first mercantile and then industrial capitalism. Others see it as one of the root causes of inequality. In any event, oldest-takes-all has largely gone by the wayside. Second and subsequently born children (daughters as well as sons) can now generally expect to inherit their fair share of their family’s estate.

One of the relatively few established and accepted social science phenomena is the notion that as people get richer, they have fewer kids. Plummeting birth rates (aka “the birth dearth”) among the relatively wealthy families of the world is serving as a new motor of wealth concentration, the impact of which is just starting to be felt. Whereas even a century ago inherited wealth was spread across four to six surviving children, today it goes to about two, on average. Inherited money, like mercury, is increasingly coalescing into fewer and fewer hands (for this and several other reasons). And inherited money is a lot of money, estimated to be around 25% of all wealth in the United States.

More and more people (including wealthy ones) have no children. What childless wealthy people do with their money is a key question. Will they spend it on opulence, give it to charity or further concentrate it in the hands of their nieces and nephews? Unfortunately, given our “look at me” Zeitgeist, opulence may get the lion’s share of this demographic windfall.

A first cut policy prescription stemming from more money per beneficiary is to increase taxes on inherited wealth.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/2/2273794/-Falling-Birth-Rates-are-Contributing-to-Wealth-Concentration?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/