ISI Wealth Conference 2025 – Keynotes
Missed the talks by Lane Kenworthy and Céline Bessière? Recordings of their keynotes are now available on YouTube — a review.
You’re not supposed to talk about money? We did: From October 9 to 11, wealth and various forms of inequality were discussed intensively at the ISI Wealth Conference 2025. The debates were dynamic, the questions were fundamental, the perspectives diverse and two of the key contributions are now available as videos.
One of them is the presentation by Lane Kenworthy. The sociologist and political scientist is known for his statistical and analytical work on the economic effects of income and wealth distribution and currently teaches at the University of California in San Diego. On the basis of his book “Is Inequality the Problem?“, he focused on the effects of income inequality on living standards, democracy, equal opportunities, life expectancy and health. Using cross-national data, he argues that while reducing economic inequality is important and desirable, it should not necessarily be the top priority.
In her book “The Gender of Capital,” Céline Bessière and Sibylle Gollac look at the gender-specific wealth gap in formally egalitarian societies. In her keynote speech, she analyzed the social mechanisms that both make this gap visible within families, for example during marital crises or inheritance, and concentrate the transfer of wealth within specific social classes, thereby further exacerbating inequalities. She teaches at the Université Paris Dauphine, is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France and conducts research at the intersection of economic, legal, gender, class and family sociology.
Both lectures offer interesting insights into the structure and dynamics of wealth and inequality and are now available here on our ISI YouTube channel. But the debates at the ISI Wealth Conference 2025 do not end with the final panel. The ideas and contributions continue to resonate. They were a starting point: On May 18, we will continue the exchange at the ISI Inequality Day and look forward to new perspectives and discussions.
