# Wealth: Structure, Limits, Inheritance · The Wealth School Think Tank A long-term research programme exploring how wealth shapes societies and individual lives. Canonical: https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research-think-tank.html Part of: The Wealth School, https://www.thewealthschool.ch/ Site index for agents: https://www.thewealthschool.ch/llms.txt Every page as one text: https://www.thewealthschool.ch/llms-full.txt Last changed: 2026-10-01 --- Think Tank · Emerging programme · Open to collaborators # The Wealth School Think Tank ![Detail of a goldsmith](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/assets/school-5e9ce52ecbb6aefb/img/research/christus-hero-1200.jpg) The Wealth School Think TankWealth: Structure, Limits, Inheritance Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in His Shop (detail), 1449. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. Public domain. - The programme - 2 working distinctions - 3 lines of inquiry - Events - Collaborate ## The programme The Wealth School Think Tank is developing “Wealth: Structure, Limits, Inheritance”, a long-term research programme exploring how wealth shapes societies and individual lives. The programme will draw on sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, political science and philosophy in a post-disciplinary inquiry — one organised around the question of wealth rather than the boundaries of any single field. It will also examine how artificial intelligence is changing the meaning of wealth. Disciplines - Sociology - Anthropology - Economics - Psychology - Political science - Philosophy ## 2 working distinctions It will explore how wealth shapes social relationships, life paths and ideas of progress, and what it means for the common good. 2 working distinctions guide the inquiry: Working distinction 1 ### The society of treasure where wealth is kept and passed on Working distinction 2 ### The society of capital where wealth is set in motion to grow 3 lines of inquiry ## Structure · Limits · Inheritance 01 ### Structure How does wealth take shape, in a life, a family and a society? - Which forms of wealth does a society recognise, record and reward, and which does it leave unrecorded? - What changes when wealth is held as treasure, put to work as capital, or valued in other ways? - How do trusts, foundations, family offices and enterprises organise ownership, authority and responsibility across generations? - How might artificial intelligence change which capacities, assets and relationships are recognised as wealth? 02 ### Limits What can wealth do, and where does its reach end? - Which forms of wealth can stand in for one another, and which are irreplaceable? - What does one finite life allow a person to hold, use and pass on? - How much is enough for a person, a family, a society? - When does accumulation strengthen the common good, and when does it begin to weigh on it? 03 ### Inheritance What do we pass on, and how do those who receive it make it their own? - What passes between generations beyond assets: values, obligations, relationships, stories? - How can a person choose what to carry forward from an inheritance they did not choose? - Who gets to decide what endures, what can change, and what is left open? - What will future generations inherit from the way wealth is held today? The programme is designed to test the School’s own theory as well as to extend it. Events ## Academic and public events Through academic and public events, we will examine the structure, limits and inheritance of wealth, and propose new social, political and economic practices. Collaborate ## Researchers and practitioners are invited to shape the programme with us. --- ## Other pages on this site - [About the School | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/about.html): The structure that holds the School, the people who carry it, and the oversight that holds them all to account. - [Stewardship Commons | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/commons.html): A commons for the stewardship of multi-capital wealth, where theory, research and learning are held in common, and where stewards gather to compare readings, practice and experience. - [Knock on the Door | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/contact.html): Curious about stewardship learning journeys? Interested in exploring more, collaborating, or co-stewarding? Share a glimpse of how we might be of service. - [Wealth Stewardship | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/definition.html): What it means to steward wealth in all its forms: the theory, the 9 life capitals and the instrument behind the practice. - [A Founding Letter · The Library · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/founding-letter.html): On the formation of stewardship as a practice — and why it cannot be assumed. - [The Wealth School | Wealth Stewardship](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/): The Wealth School develops the capacity to steward them. - [A question to take with you · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/invitation.html): Explore the 9 life capitals and begin The Wealth Read. - [Legal & privacy · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/legal.html): Who publishes this site, on what terms, and what it records about your visit. - [The Lexicon · The Library · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/lexicon.html): The terms The Wealth School defines, with the definition, the source and the date each was first published: the 9 life capitals, Stewardship Intelligence, Wealth Stewardship, Existential Portfolio Theory. - [Open Classes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/open-classes/): 1 question. 1 live session. - [The Orrery — The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/orrery-3d.html): Explore 9 life capitals around Stewardship Intelligence: a clearer view of the wealth of a life. - [UNCODED Residency · Programmes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/programme.html): A 14-day residential formation experience in Switzerland for the rising generation. - [Programmes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/programmes.html): One body of work, met where you are. - [A question to take away · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/qr.html): Explore the 9 life capitals and begin The Wealth Read. - [Research & Standards | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research-and-standards.html): The research behind Wealth Stewardship, and the standards that keep the practice rigorous. Scholars and practitioners can contribute. - [Global Wealth Stewardship Ecosystem · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research-ecosystem-map.html): A working map of the global wealth stewardship ecosystem, with curated access for researchers, members and partners. - [Future of Family Wealth & Stewardship Survey · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research-survey.html): Founding research, December 2025: 5 emerging patterns from 93 family members and advisers. - [Wealth: Structure, Limits, Inheritance · The Wealth School Think Tank](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research-think-tank.html): A long-term research programme exploring how wealth shapes societies and individual lives. - [Research in Wealth Stewardship · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/research.html): We study how wealth shapes human lives, families and societies — and how people learn to steward it across generations. - [UNCODED Residency | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/steward-formation.html) - [Stewardship Commons | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/stewardship-commons.html): The Wealth School's Swiss non-profit commons, where stewards learn from one another and build the field together. - [Wealth Stewardship | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/stewardship.html): What stewardship is, and the human capacity — Stewardship Intelligence — that governs it. The ground on which the Theory and the Instrument stand. - [Your School contribution | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/support-thanks.html): Thank you for considering support for the School’s research, formation and open work. - [Support the school | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/support.html): Help build the research, formation and open work of a School that develops the capacity to steward wealth in all its forms. - [How Do You Talk to Your Children About Wealth? | Open Classes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/talking-to-children-about-wealth.html): Thursday 19 November · live online · 90 minutes · Free - [About the School | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/the-institution.html): Who stands behind The Wealth School, how it is governed and the principles it is bound by. Founded in Switzerland in 2025. - [The Library | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/the-library.html): The written corpus of The Wealth School: the Manifesto, the Founding Letter and the thinkers and traditions behind the work. - [Wealth Stewardship · The Theory · The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/theory.html): Existential Portfolio Theory, the theory beneath Wealth Stewardship: wealth as 9 life capitals, held in one finite life. - [What Counts as Wealth? | Open Classes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/what-counts-as-wealth.html): Thursday 12 November · live online · 90 minutes · Free - [What Is Enough? | Open Classes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/what-is-enough.html): Thursday 26 November · live online · 90 minutes · Free - [Who Decides What Your Wealth Is For? | Open Classes | The Wealth School](https://www.thewealthschool.ch/who-decides.html): Thursday 3 December · live online · 90 minutes · Free