# Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/limitarianism-the-case-against-extreme-wealth/
- Published: 2024-02-01T11:19:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**No-one deserves to be a millionaire. Not even you. In this landmark intervention,
philosopher and economist Ingrid Robeyns makes a rigorous moral, political, and 
economic case for placing a hard limit on individual wealth. And in doing so, she
opens a debate that has enormous implications for the future of philanthropy, taxation,
and civil society.**

We notice when the poor get poorer — when food bank queues lengthen and rough sleeping
rises. But when the rich get richer, little changes visibly in public life, at least
not immediately. In _Limitarianism_, Ingrid Robeyns argues that this asymmetry is
both morally indefensible and practically harmful: extreme wealth causes damage 
not only to society at large but to democracy, to the environment, and ultimately
to the wealthy themselves.

Drawing on decades of academic work in ethics, political theory, and economics, 
including a PhD supervised by Amartya Sen and a €2 million European Research Council
grant, Robeyns sets out the philosophical foundations for limitarianism: the principle
that there should be an upper threshold on personal wealth, just as there is broad
consensus on a lower threshold below which no one should fall. She shows how extreme
concentrations of wealth distort political systems, corrode public institutions,
and undermine the foundations of democratic equality.

For those working in philanthropy and the charity sector, _Limitarianism_ raises
questions that are impossible to avoid: What is the relationship between extreme
private wealth and philanthropic power? Does charitable giving by the ultra-wealthy
offset or reinforce inequality? And should the existence of mega-philanthropy be
seen as a symptom of a system in need of structural change? Shortlisted for the 
Socrates Philosophy Prize, this is one of the most important books on wealth and
society published in recent years.

## **About Ingrid Robeyns**

Ingrid Robeyns holds master’s degrees in economics and philosophy, and obtained 
her PhD at Cambridge University under the supervision of Amartya Sen. She holds 
the Chair in Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University, where she previously 
served as Director of the Ethics Institute. In 2018 she was elected to the Netherlands
Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts. _Limitarianism_ is her first trade book.

## **Reviews**

> “The best case I’ve read for putting an upper limit on the accumulation of wealth.
> Even the super-rich might be glad if there was a finishing line!”
> **Richard Wilkinson,
> co-author of _The Spirit Level_**

> “Powerful — a must-read.”
> **Thomas Piketty, author of _Capital_**

> “Valuable, intriguing, provocative. Robeyns poses a question that very rarely 
> gets asked in mainstream politics: how much is too much?”
> _**Guardian**_

> “You might find yourself, as I did, underlining a sentence or three on every page,
> and adding exclamation points in the margin.”
> **Tim Adams, _Observer_**

> “A landmark — gripping, riveting, vivid. We need to embrace, as Robeyns so compellingly
> argues, limits on income and wealth.”
> _**Inequality.org**_

**[Buy from Amazon.co.uk](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241578191?tag=219)**