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Wealth, Elites and Tax Justice

This research programme is led by Professor Mike Savage.

Economic concerns with inequality have tended to focus on the nature and extent of income inequality, which is now well known to be growing in many nations since the 1980s. However, income inequality is only the tip of the iceberg. Following the influential arguments of Thomas Piketty, which rework Marx’s emphasis on capital accumulation, it is increasingly realised that wealth is a more fundamental driver of inequality dynamics. Whereas analyses of the distribution of income inequality are often pitched as reflections of the significance of skill and human capital for affecting income differences, focusing on wealth opens up bigger concerns about the processes driving wealth accumulation, inheritance and privilege. The build-up of wealth can frequently be seen as ‘unearned income’ linked to the proliferation of rent extraction processes and asset markets, which thus threatens liberal and meritocratic values. Yet, although wealth is critical to the analysis of economic inequality, it is more difficult to theorise and measure than income. Wealth assets take numerous forms and can be concealed. Wealth is also highly mobile and cannot so easily be associated with national formations as income inequality.

In emphasising the fundamental ways in which wealth inequality affects societies, our interests are necessarily wide ranging, but we focus our work through dedicated programmes of study in specific areas.

The III hosted the international research and policy conference Too Much Finance in January 2026, in collaboration with the Tax Justice Network, Atlantic Fellows for Social & Economic Equity (AFSEE), the Balanced Economy Project, The Finance Innovation Lab and the Manchester School journal. Over two days, researchers and policymakers examined an insight that is well-established but still underappreciated in policy design: oversized financial sectors undermine economic performance and fuel inequality.

Research findings were interwoven throughout policy discussions, with keynote talks delivered by Thorsten Beck and Jayati Ghosh, and a dedicated roundtable on translating evidence into policy implications. A series of reflections from participants will be published to share key takeaways and to extend the conversation toward practical change.