3 ms·

In Italy at least, this just isn't true https://qz.com/694340/the-richest-families-in-florence-in-1427-are-still-the-richest-families-in-florence/ https://qz.c

In Italy at least, this just isn't true https://qz.com/694340/the-richest-families-in-florence-in-1427-are-still-the-richest-families-in-florence/ https://qz.com/694340/the-richest-families-in-florence-in-14... The rich stay rich over hundreds of years, for the most part. I would guess that squandered fortunes are the exception: money makes more money for itself, and while new money might be even more spectacular than old, the Carnegies aren't middle class a century later because the Walton family is richer than they could have dreamed

bitshiftfaced 5y ago
In Italy, wealthy business owners pass down the company to their oldest son/daughter. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/07/how-rich-and-famous-remain-rich-and-famous-florence-italy-globalpost/85540990/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/07/how-ric... A similar thing happens in the Netherlands, where family wealth can persist and grow for centuries. In the USA, people usually structure their will so that all children get a piece of the pie. Generational wealth gets divided exponentially, but businesses don't usually grow at that pace, at least not for centuries. Unless the family has very few children over multiple generations, the wealth per person isn't sustainable.