Many agonised articles and books have been written in recent years about the decline of social mobility and the rise of the super rich, especially in countries such as the US and Britain. The authors typically recommend government intervention to improve equality and life chances for the less well-off.
While the poor may need help, I think the wealthy almost invariably sow the seeds of their own relative decline – even without punitive taxation. In my experience, working with many successful entrepreneurs over three decades, the children of self-made parents almost never possess the same level of ambition or capacity for enterprise. Consequently family fortunes tend to wither rather than expand without end.
I once spoke at an event organised by a private bank in the City of London, attended by about 100 young adult children of its multimillionaire clients. The listeners were an unimpressive lot from all over – the Middle East, Russia, Africa, Europe and Asia. Generally speaking they struck me as spoilt and deficient in energy or experience of the real world. Their parents were mostly from modest backgrounds but had created substantial companies, by dint of huge effort and ingenuity. My audience never felt the need to make such sacrifices – and it showed in their attitudes.