The evolution of wealth inequality

Location: British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace. A reception will follow.

Abstract: Most quantitative studies of wealth inequality are based on tax records from the last couple of centuries in economies with little variation in institutions, culture, and technology compared to the vast differences humans have experienced over the course of prehistory and history. The Stone Centre at UCL is bringing together a stellar line up from across the disciplines to spend a day working on this question: What can we learn from the evolution of wealth inequality since prehistory about the processes sustaining extraordinary wealth inequality today and policies to secure a more just distribution in the future?

Guest speakers:

• Sam Bowles, Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program, Santa Fe Institute
• Amy Bogaard, Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford
• David Wengrow, Professor of Comparative Archaeology, UCL
• Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT
• Walter Scheidel, Dickason Professor in the Humanities, and Professor of Classics and History, Stanford University
• Suresh Naidu, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Jack Wang and Echo Ren Professor of Economics, Columbia University