The Temperament of Today's Super-Rich

Submitted by GIA News on January 4, 2011

(1-4-2011) In a fascinating article for The Atlantic, Chrystia Freeland describes an increasingly stratified global economy and the position of the "new global elite," a plutocracy of super-rich who wield largely unprecedented power:

What is more relevant to our times, though, is that the rich of today are also different from the rich of yesterday. Our light-speed, globally connected economy has led to the rise of a new super-elite that consists, to a notable degree, of first- and second-generation wealth. Its members are hardworking, highly educated, jet-setting meritocrats who feel they are the deserving winners of a tough, worldwide economic competition—and many of them, as a result, have an ambivalent attitude toward those of us who didn’t succeed so spectacularly.

The effect of this power shift on philanthropy, Freeland argues, is a trend away from donating to worthy charities and public institutions to something she has coined "Philanthrocapitalism." Entrepreneurial in spirit and result-driven, donors are testing new ways to solve big problems.