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How rich is too rich? Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

Where should society draw the line on extreme wealth? A fresh account sets out the logic and suggests how to redress inequality.

Among a representative sample of Dutch people, for example, Robeyns and her team found that nine out of ten respondents agreed that having wealth exceeding €4 million for a family of four — in terms of ownership of certain assets, such as a mansion, a second home, luxury vehicles and a specific amount of savings — qualifies as being super-rich. Going further, she reminds us that current wealth inequalities have some roots in historical practices such as slavery or military conquests — as scholars of global history have revealed, for example in Sven Beckert’s 2014 book Empire of Cotton. Here, Robeyns argues that it would be politically and administratively easier to limit assets than to impose individual quotas to cap the appropriation of ecological resources, such as water or energy.

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