Activity

largely responsible for the vertiginous increase in the top centile’s share of wealth in Britain and France during the Belle Époque.

In addition, there are serious lacunae in German tax rec ords, owing in large part to the country’s turbulent history in the twentieth century

[...] The institutionalized meritocratic system helps a few to gain access to positions they merit and from which they might otherwise be barred. But it allows many more to gain access to positions on the basis of ascribed status under the cover of having gained this access by achievement.