Wednesday 31 January 2024 6.30pm to 8.00pm

LSE Public Event hosted jointly by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion and LSE Government

Speakers: Professor Ingrid Robeyns, Professor Lea Ypi

Chair: Dr Tania Burchardt

It’s often said that there shouldn’t be any billionaires. But this is a mistake. What we need is a world without decamillionaires – people having more than ten million pounds. That is what the philosopher Ingrid Robeyns from the University of Utrecht argues in her new book Limitarianism. The Case Against Extreme Wealth.

Why would a world without anyone being superrich be better? Because extreme wealth undermines democracy; is incompatible with climate justice; and the money could be used much better elsewhere. Most fundamentally, no-one deserves to have so much money. But do these reasons stand up to scrutiny? Would preventing the accumulation of extreme wealth kill innovation, undermine our freedoms and opportunities to live the lives we lead, and in the end also harm the poor? Is limitarianism viable? Would it require us to abolish capitalism, and if so, what could replace it? And what, if anything, would it require from the overwhelming majority who do not have sizeable wealth?

This event will put these ideas to the test in a lively debate with the author of Limitarianism in conversation with LSE's Lea Ypi.

Click here for further details on how to attend this event.