[rznicolet]

The 100 richest people are (by design) going to be very unrepresentative of the whole, depending on how "rich" is defined. How does the balance between inheritance and other sources of wealth shift if we look further down the list?

I suspect the late 1800s, another era when inheritance was a lesser source of extreme wealth, may also be unrepresentative of the "typical" state. Massive upheavals in technology (mass production, computerization/Internet) seem to me to be more likely to be exceptions, rather than the rule, over very long time horizons.

Regardless, we may be entering another era of consolidation since this article was written. It will be... interesting... to see how it shakes out.

[pclmulqdq]

Also, the top 100 on a list like this are going to be the 100 who can't hide their wealth well. That usually will bias you towards "new money" since those are people who have gotten rich through things like IPOs rather than through things like owning large tracts of land under shell companies.

[jbs789]

Yeah this was more my take - Industrial Revolution was a step change, and you saw that flow through to future generations / inheritance.

[margalabargala]

The Industrial Revolution was a step change, sure, and unrepresentative of the last 1000 years. But is it unrepresentative of the next 1000? As technology advances, there are increasing numbers of things unlocking new industries or efficiency gains.

Microprocessors and the internet were another step change. What will be next? AI? Biotech? Robotics? Energy? The fact that there are so many options that could be, makes me think that the 1890 and 2020 states are more likely than the 1982 state to be present for at least the next couple decades.