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Limitarianism: the case against extreme wealth
January 31 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm UTC+0
Speaker: Ingrid Robeyns
Hosted by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, the Department of Government, and the Programme on Cohesive Capitalism
It’s often said that there shouldn’t be any billionaires. But this is a mistake. What we need is a world without decamillionaires – people having more than ten million pounds. That is what the philosopher Ingrid Robeyns from the University of Utrecht argues in her new book Limitarianism. The Case Against Extreme Wealth.
Why would a world without anyone being superrich be better? Because extreme wealth undermines democracy; is incompatible with climate justice; and the money could be used much better elsewhere. Most fundamentally, no-one deserves to have so much money. But do these reasons stand up to scrutiny? Would preventing the accumulation of extreme wealth kill innovation, undermine our freedoms and opportunities to live the lives we lead, and in the end also harm the poor? Is limitarianism viable? Would it require us to abolish capitalism, and if so, what could replace it? And what, if anything, would it require from the overwhelming majority who do not have sizeable wealth?
Ingrid Robeyns (@IngridRobeyns) was trained in economics and in philosophy. She received her PhD from Cambridge University, where she was supervised by Amartya Sen. Her work focusses on socio-economic questions in contemporary political philosophy and applied ethics. Robeyns holds the Chair in Ethics of Institutions at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University.
More information: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2024/01/202401311830AUD/wealth
