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In the Balance: Is Inherited Wealth a Curse?

Is Inherited Wealth a Curse?

09/09/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - In the Balance, Is Inherited Wealth a Curse?

Does passing down wealth through the generations entrench inequality?

Does passing down large amounts of money within families drive the gap between rich and poor even wider?  It seems that some of the world's richest people, like Bill Gates, recognised this and have pledged to give away most, if not all, of their wealth to good causes rather than their children. Is inherited wealth a curse, both on a personal and macro-economic level? Should we tax it much more heavily, or even ban inheritance altogether? Manuela Saragosa is joined by a global panel of guests to unpick the issues on intergenerational fairness. 


Contributors: Barbara Blouin,  founder of The Inheritance Project, Karen Rowlingson Professor of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham, Edward Wolff, Professor of Economics at New York University and Jørgen Næsje, State Secretary in Norway's Finance Ministry.

(Picture: College Republicans Rally For Repeal Of Estate Tax. Washington DC June 2006. Credit: Getty Imgages)

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