Volume 54, January–February 2016, Pages 1–32
- a Talent Identification Program, Duke University, 300 Fuller Street, Durham, NC 27701, United States
- b Wealth-X, 29 West 30th Street, Suite 901, New York, NY 10001, United States
- Received 27 July 2015, Revised 29 October 2015, Accepted 4 November 2015, Available online 19 November 2015
Highlights
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- The characteristics of the right tail of wealth was assessed.
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- Elite education and ability was associated with greater wealth, giving, and network power.
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- U.S. Blacks and self-made females had the highest network power.
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- Female CEOs needed to be more educated than their male counterparts.
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- Males gave the most, but females gave more of what they have.
Abstract
The
extent to which people in the right tail of wealth are highly educated
and cognitively able was examined in a sample of 18,245 ultra high net
worth (UHNW) individuals with net worth's of USD $30 million plus. How
education and ability related to religion, ethnicity, political
affiliation, relationship status, country, industry, leadership, gender,
net worth, giving, and network power was assessed. And whether gender,
religion, ethnicity, or network power differences existed in the right
tail of wealth was examined. Overall, these people were highly educated
and cognitively able, and smarter (more educated) people were wealthier,
gave more, and had more powerful social networks (but when controlling
for multiple confounds the association between education/ability and
wealth was found to be quite small). Females were underrepresented, and
female CEOs needed to be more select to reach the top of a company.
Males and billionaires gave the most, but females and UHNW individuals
gave more of what they had. U.S. Blacks and self-made females had the
highest network power. U.S. Blacks and Caucasians were similarly
educated and cognitively able. Democrats had a higher education and
cognitive ability level than Republicans. Married people dominated and
were the most educated and cognitively able, but least likely to have
inherited their money and give. The finance, banking, investment, and
internet sectors dominated. Jewish individuals were overrepresented by a
factor of about 234. Today, the typical UHNW individual profile
includes U.S. married (Christian and Jewish) men who are largely
Chairman and CEO, Republican, and earned their money in finance, banking
and investments. This study provides evidence for the clustering of
brains, wealth and power, and suggests that elite education may matter
in the trajectory of developing expertise in wealth and power
generation.
Keywords
- Education;
- Cognitive ability;
- Wealth;
- Expertise;
- Achievement
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
