Richer and more equal : A New History of Wealth in the West - Daniel Waldenström

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. In his book, Richer and More Equal: A New History of Wealth in the West (Polity, 2024), 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, and Waldenström argues that it is key 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.