A historian argues that the most fortunate among us used to be more useful in a crisis.
 | By Suein Hwang Business, Economics and Technology Editor, Opinion |
"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me," wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. Today, they are also very different from what they once were. |
That is Guido Alfani's startling conclusion, which he outlines in a recent Times Opinion guest essay. Alfani, a professor of economic history at Bocconi University in Milan, studied the Western world's wealthiest people over centuries and found that today's super rich have changed: They are no longer willing to support the societies they inhabit. |
To support his thesis, Alfani notes that despite the economic and social stresses of the worst pandemic in a century, a war in Ukraine and the threat of large-scale conflict in the Middle East, European countries as well as the U.S. have somehow failed to enact reforms that would make the rich contribute significantly more. He notes this is a "historically exceptional development" and points to a number of times throughout history — from the Italian plague of 1630 to both world wars — when the rich have dutifully offered financial reserves in times of dire need. |
If history is any judge, this change has serious consequences for all us. "Helping foot the bill of major crises has long been the main social function attributed to the rich by Western culture. In the past, when the wealthiest have been perceived to be insensitive to the plight of the masses, and especially when they have appeared to be profiteering from such plights (or have simply been suspected of doing so), society has become unstable, leading to riots, open revolts and anti-rich violence," Alfani writes. |
Whatever is to come, it doesn't take much to see how the wealthy's current indifference could be manifesting itself now, both in our lives and in our politics. |
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