Research institute
Economics of Inequality Open main menu
[Translate to English:]

Panel Discussion: Inequality, Democracy and Limits to Wealth

Date & Time: Monday, November 30 | 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Location: WU Wien, TC.0.03

Register here

About the Event

[Translate to English:] Event Poster

Debates on extreme wealth in Europe have so far focused mainly on how it should be taxed. A wealth cap goes a step further and sets an upper limit on how much wealth a single person can hold. In this panel discussion we examine how a wealth cap differs from a wealth tax, what each instrument can achieve and what can be learned from Europe’s experience with wealth taxation. We then turn to limitarianism and its democratic argument: when wealth is highly concentrated, it can be converted into political influence, and an upper limit is one way to protect political equality. Finally, the panel presents concrete answers to the objections most often raised against capping wealth, from the valuation of assets to capital flight, and discusses what a workable wealth cap could look like in practice.

The event is open to the public and free of charge.

Registration is required.

Speakers

  • Franziska Disslbacher - Assistant Professor, WU Vienna

  • Martin Schürz - Economist and Author of "Überreichtum und Todesangst"

  • Julia Hofmann - Department of Economics, Arbeiterkammer Wien

  • Lukas Cserjan - Research Associate, JKU Linz

  • Moderated by Francesca Matera

Headshot Disslbacher

Franziska Disslbacher

is Assistant Professor at WU Vienna.

She studies intergenerational mobility and how wealth is accumulated, inherited and taxed, including what its concentration menas for opportunity, the economy and society. She consults policy institutions such as the UN and the World Bank on wealth inequality and taxation, and is a research fellow at LSE, the Paris School of Economics and the Stone Center at CUNY.

Headshot Hofmann

Julia Hofmann

is a policy expert on social inequality and distribution as well as work and industrial relations in the Department of Economics at the Vienna Chamber of Labour (AK Wien). She teaches at the University of Vienna and at Hochschule Campus Wien and is a founding member of the Social Inequality Section of the Austrian Sociological Association (ÖGS).

Headshot Schürz

Martin Schürz

works as a psychotherapist at a clinic for children in crisis in Vienna (Boje). He is also an economist, who has been doing research on wealth distribution for more than 20 years. He received in 2015 the Progressive economy award of the European Parliament (together with Pirmin Fessler). In 2019 he received the Bruno Kreisky award for his book on “Überreichtum” Campus Verlag. He was Albert Hirschman Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. Among his books are: “Angst und Angstmacherei. Für eine Wirtschaftspolitik die Hoffnung macht „ (Zsolnay, co-authored with Markus  Marterbauer). His new book on „Überreichtum und Todesangst. Der Griff der Tech Milliardäre nach Unsterblichkeit” was published recently.

Headshot Cerjan

Lukas Cerjan

is a Research Associate at the Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy (ICAE) at the Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU Linz). 

Back to the event overview

Organisator:innen