There’s some new interesting research coming out on who, exactly, are the super-wealthy in America.
First, from Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh. Looking at the Forbes 400 (the list published by Forbes each year showing the wealth of the 400 richest Americans), Kaplan and Rauh found that the majority of the super wealthy in 2011 were self-made: 69% of those on the list were self-made billionaires, up from 40% in 1982. Conversely, those who inherited wealth fell from 60% in 1982 to just 32%. Now, to be fair, some of those who made their fortunes did inherit some wealth (for example, the Koch brothers or the Waltons), but they continued to expand their wealth by offering goods and services to individuals. The numbers are very similar when looking at the 2015 list: 69% are self-made, and a small proportion inherited their wealth.
There’s also interesting info about inter-generational fortunes.
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