1 What Is Wealth, and How Much Is Needed to Be Rich?

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgements xi
5. Introduction 1
6. Part I In the Hands of the Few
7. 1 What Is Wealth, and How Much Is Needed to Be Rich? 17
8. 2 Wealth Concentration and the Prevalence of the Rich across History an overview 36
9. Part II The Paths to Affluence
10. 3 On Aristocracy, New and Past 65
11. 4 On Innovation and Technology 88
12. 5 On Finance 125
13. 6 The Curse of Smaug: the saving and consumption habits of the rich 159
14. 7 Making It to the: Top an overview 181
15. Part III The Rich in Society
16. 8 Why Wealth Concentration Can Be a Social Problem: from Thomas Aquinas to piketty 213
17. 9 Patrons, Benefactors, Donors 237
18. 10 The Super-Rich and Politics 259
19. 11 The Rich in Times of Crisis from the Black Death to COVID-19 285
20. Appendix. Sources for Tables and Figures in the Main Tex 321
21. Notes 325
22. Bibliography 367
23. Index 403
24. A NOTE ON THE TYPE 421