Are Limitarianism and Capitalism Compatible?

Limitarianism is the view that there should be a cap on how much personal wealth each individual can have. It is a regulative ideal, which implies that it might never be fully reachable, but that does not take away its moral appeal as an ideal to keep striving for. Although I have, in earlier work, given a range of reasons to endorse limitarianism, and have discussed policies and strategies that could move us in that direction, I have not been clear on whether I believe that limitarianism can be compatible with capitalism. In this lecture, I will address this matter – and also ask the deeper question: What does it tell us that many critics of limitarianism believe this is an important question?

Suggested preparatory reading:
Ingrid Robeyns. 2024. Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. London: Allen Lane. (also available in German translation)

Ingrid Robeyns. 2019. “What, If Anything, Is Wrong With Extreme Wealth? Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 20 (3): 251–66.

Ingrid Robeyns was trained as an economist and philosopher, and holds the chair in Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University. She has worked for many years on developing the capability approach as a paradigm to use in the analysis of public policy, institutional design, and societal critique. In her recent work, she has been arguing for a limit on personal wealth and is now moving to the political philosophical analysis of alternatives to neoliberal capitalism.