As Gods among human beings
a story of the rich in the West

4th December 2024 – Presentation of the book by Guido Alfani

Palazzo Invernizzi hosted the presentation of the book Come dèi fra gli uomini (Editori Laterza, 2024) by Guido Alfani, a writer and professor at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan, who was interviewed on this occasion by journalist and deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper, Daniele Manca.

In his book, Professor Alfani traced a path to tell the story of the rich and super-rich in the West, trying to explain how one becomes rich and why wealth tends to accumulate in the hands of the few.

As the author explained, things have changed throughout a thousand years. In the Middle Ages, excessive accumulation of wealth was considered to be sinful and therefore the rich were expected not to show off their opulence. For a long time, their mere existence led to social unease, mitigated only by the role they could play in times of crisis by using their wealth to help the community.

In this book, full of examples and accounts of the lives of some extraordinary individuals, the author draws a broad historical reconstruction, which also offers a perspective from which one can look at current debates on wealth and income inequality. What differs from the past is that although their assets were substantially spared by 2008 Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic, the rich and super-rich have been reluctant to contribute to the common good, even opposing emergency measures. History suggests that this is a worrying development - for the rich and for everyone else.

Also thanks to the participation of deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper, Daniele Manca, an expert in economics and innovation, the presentation was an opportunity to take a snapshot of today’s society in the light of geopolitical events of 2024.