> Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the beginning of the 1900's. What does "r > g" say happened to his wealth? What actually happened was that

> Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the beginning of the 1900's. What does "r > g" say happened to his wealth? What actually happened was that he gave it all away. Many of the richest people in the US have pledged to give away the majority of their wealth. You can't hand wave that away. You absolutely can hand wave it away. 1) Yes, Carnegie's actions helped reduce inequality by funding thousands of libraries, but the reason Carnegie stands out is because he was unique in both wealth and largesse. Also, he gave away 90% of his wealth _while he was living_ so not relevant to this discussion about inherence. 2) Pledging and doing are not at all the same. 3) Those who are both pledging and doing (like Gates) are doing so during their lifetimes -- again a separate issue to inheritance. I haven't done all the math, but I'm very confident that even if you discount charitable giving, you'll find that r > g in the present era (which is the subject of Piketty's book). Look, just looking at my portfolio, it's up nearly 70% in the past 5 years -- that's miles ahead of growth. And that just standard investments, no crypto, options, derivatives, pre-IPOs, etc. The very wealthy are doing much better than that. > We know that "r > g" is not a good model of how the world works because 90% of the time, wealth is dissipated by the 3rd generation. I don't know where that number comes from but I would strongly dispute it. Yes, there is very new wealth being made especially in the past 50 years by people like Musk, but most wealth is generational wealth, even in the US (and much more so in Europe and elsewhere). > If it would, but giving it to 5 people would not, what is the number between 5 and 340,000,000 where it would start reducing inequality? Please point me to the billionaire who divided up their assets upon their death to more than a few dozen people, and we can talk about how it reduced inequality. Almost all leave it to their heirs or, if generous, to a Trust or Foundation which keeps it invested (Ford, Rockefeller, Harvard, etc.) and give away / use the proceeds over time.