Wealth Inequality. The Challenge of Our Time, with No End in Sight?

In the organizer's words:

Inequality in wealth is extreme, growing, and hurtful to democracy. But is it really that bad? Isn't Germany a country that has managed to keep extreme forms of inequality at bay? And, anyways, what could possibly be done about it? This public event will feature world-leading experts to help answer these questions, combining both new empirical data on the distribution of wealth and a new vision of what it would take to combat it.


On Friday, October 11, 2024, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) will celebrate the founding of the Munich International Stone Center for Inequality Research (ISI) with a public lecture event. The ISI is dedicated to researching social inequality and wealth inequality in particular.

“Social inequality, especially in terms of wealth, is one of the major social challenges of our time,” says Prof. Dr. Fabian Pfeffer, founding director of the ISI.

Internationally renowned academics will give lectures at the start of the event:

• Thomas Piketty is an economist at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and the Paris School of Economics. Ever since the publication of his bestselling book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" he has become the most visible and influential social scientist focused on wealth inequality, its sources, and solutions.
• Charlotte Bartels is an economist at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. She is the leading expert on Germany's wealth distribution, having unearthed more than 100 years of data on changes in wealth inequality.
• Ingrid Robeyns is a philosopher at Utrecht University. Earlier this year she published the book "Limitarianism" in which she argues that we need to limit extreme wealth by setting a maximum amount of resources individuals are allowed to own.

This inaugural event offers a unique opportunity to listen to leading minds in inequality research and to learn more about the scientific work of the new center.