Richer and More Equal

Once there were princes and peasants and very few between. The extremes of wealth and poverty are still with us, but that shouldn't blind us to the fact our societies have been utterly transformed for the better over the past century. As Daniel Waldenström makes clear in this authoritative account of wealth accumulation and inequality in the modern west, we are today both significantly richer and more equal.

Using cutting-edge research and new, sometimes surprising, data, Waldenström shows that what stands out since the late 1800s is a massive rise in the size of the middle class and its share of society’s total wealth. 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. Waldenström asks how we can 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.

Richer and More Equal is a benchmark account of one of the most profound and encouraging social changes in human history and a blueprint for continued progress. Preface

1 Uncovering a Positive Story

Part I: Building Wealth
2 The History of Wealth Accumulation
3 The Changing Nature of Wealth
4 Homes and Pensions: The Pillars of Household Wealth

Part II: Wealth Inequality
5 The Great Wealth Equalization of the Twentieth Century
6 Exploring the Great Wealth Equalization
7 Hidden Offshore Wealth
8 Public Sector Wealth
9 Inheritance and Wealth Inequality

Part III: A New History of Wealth
10 Conclusions and Policy Insights

Notes
References
Index

“Daniel Waldenström presents a new and compelling interpretation of wealth accumulation and wealth inequality over the past two centuries in advanced capitalist countries. Not only has more wealth than ever before been created, but its distribution, with the rising importance of private housing and private pension funds, has become more equal. Some may disagree with his conclusions, but no one can afford to overlook the book.”
Branko Milanovic, author of Visions of Inequality

“This engaging book shows that inequality is not a law of nature or economics. While the United States has seen a rise in income and wealth inequality in recent years, other Western countries have remained more equal, even amidst economic growth. The book demonstrates that inequality is shaped by wage policies and political and institutional factors. Shared prosperity is not an automatic process but neither is it an unattainable goal.”
Daron Acemoglu, MIT

“In this provocative and persuasive book, Waldenström shows us that, to understand the evolution of wealth inequality, we should go beyond considering the impact of war and catastrophe. We need to recognize the critical fact that an average household today enjoys far more wealth than was the case in the past, and this has deep implications. A very welcome addition to the debate.”
David Stasavage, New York University

“With abundant new data and analyses, Waldenstrom proposes a striking new history of wealth inequality. The prevailing Jeremiads, which find capitalism and rising inequality to be inevitable bedmates, are wrong. Modern growth has substantially reduced wealth inequality in most societies in the past 100 years, not increased it.”
Gregory Clark, University of California, Davis

"this is an important book"
John Rentoul, The Independent

“fascinating […] This is an important perspective.”
Martin Wolf, The Financial Times, Best summer books of 2024: Economics

“Waldenstrom insists that the century has been marked by the democratization of wealth, not spiraling inequality.”
Foreign Affairs

Daniel Waldenström is Professor of Economics at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)in Stockholm, Sweden, where he directs the Taxation and Society research program. Previously, he taught at Uppsala University, the Paris School of Economics, and UCLA. His research concerns economic inequality, fiscal policy, and economic history.