The number of billionaires is expanding at an unprecedented pace, coinciding with a sharp rise in income and wealth inequality. Today, the top 10% of the global population holds nearly three-quarters of the world's wealth, and the prospect of the first trillionaire looms on the horizon. These trends raise profound ethical concerns: Are the ultra-wealthy much-needed visionaries driving innovation and economic growth, or do their fortunes grant them disproportionate power that threatens social stability and democracy?
The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics invites you to view this installment in our Civil Disagreement Series: Who Wants to Be a Trillionaire? The Ethics of Extreme Wealth. The series brings audiences together with a panel of scholars and practitioners holding vastly differing views for lively and thoughtful engagement on contentious issues.
Panelists:
Jessica Flanigan
Richard L Morrill Chair of Ethics and Democratic Values
University of Richmond
Tom Malleson
Associate Professor of Social Justice & Peace Studies
King’s University College, Western University
Shruti Rajagopalan
Senior Research Fellow, India Political Economy and Emergent Ventures India
Mercatus Center, George Mason University
Nien-hê Hsieh
Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School
Moderator:
Christopher Robichaud
Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Director of Pedagogy and Civil Disagreement, Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics