The UK’s Global Economic Elite

The Politics of Inequality - Lecture 3

Lecturer: Prof Arun Advani

July 29, 2022

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Lectures:

1. Deep Poverty

2. Exploring the Growth of Charitable Food Aid in the UK

3. The UK’s Global Economic Elite

In this session we discuss the importance of international ties amongst the UK’s global economic elite, by exploiting administrative data derived from tax records. We describe how this data can be used to shed light on the kind of transnational dynamics which have long been hypothesised to be of major significance in the UK, but which have previously proved intractable to systematic study.

Our work reveals the enduring and distinctive influence of long-term imperial forces, especially to the former ‘white settler’ ex-dominions which have been called the ‘anglosphere’. These are allied to more recent currents associated with European integration and the rise of Asian economic power. Here there are especially strong ties to the ‘old EU-6’ nations of France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Italy.

The incredible detail and universal coverage of our data means that we can study those at the very top with a level of granularity that would be impossible using traditional survey sources. We find compelling support for the public perception that non-doms are disproportionately highly affluent individuals who can be viewed as a part of a global elite. However, whilst there is some evidence for the stereotype of the global wealthy parking themselves in the UK, this underplays the significance of the working rich. Our analysis also reveals the remarkable concentration of non-doms in central areas of London

Reading

  • Advani, A., Burgherr, D., Savage, M., and Summers, A. 2022. “The UK’s Global Economic Elite: A sociological analysis using tax data.” CAGE working paper no. 570.
  • Advani, A., Burgherr, D., Savage, M., and Summers, A. 2022. “The UK’s ‘non-doms’: Who are they, what do they do, and where do they live?” CAGE policy brief no. 36.
  • Advani, A., Savage, M., and Summers, A. forthcoming. “Elaborating Class Analysis on the European Scale: The Importance of British ‘Non-domiciled’ Individuals.” In Class Boundaries in Europe, Taylor and Francis.
  • Advani, A., Summers, A., and Tarrant, H. 2022. “Who are the super-rich? The wealth and connections of the Sunday Times Rich List” CAGE policy brief no. 37.
  • Appadurai, A., 1996. Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization, Vol. 1, University of Minnesota Press.
  • Avery Jones, J.F., 2004. “Taxing foreign income from Pitt to tax law rewrite–the decline of the remittance basis.” Studies in the history of tax law.
  • Bell, D., 2016. Reordering the world: essays on liberalism and empire. Princeton University Press.
  • Bell, D., 2020. Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America. Princeton University Press.
  • Bhambra, G.K., 2021. “Narrating inequality, eliding empire.” The British Journal of Sociology, 72(1), 69–78.
  • Bhambra, G.K., 2022. “Relations of extraction, relations of redistribution: Empire, nation, and the construction of the British welfare state.” The British Journal of Sociology, 73(1), 4–15.
  • Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., and Zucman, G., 2022, World Inequality Report, Paris, World Inequality Laboratory.
  • Chatterjee, P., 2012. The black hole of empire: History of a global practice of power. Princeton University Press.
  • Fligstein, N., 2008. Euroclash: The EU, European identity, and the future of Europe. Oxford University Press.
  • Hanquinet, L. and Savage, M., 2018. “Feeling European in a globalised world and the role of mobility, networks, and consumption: A comparative approach to British exceptionalism.” European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5(4), 423–454.
  • Harrington, B., 2017. “Trusts and financialization.” Socio-Economic Review, 15(1), 31–63.
  • Harrington, B., and Seabrooke, L., 2020. “Transnational Professionals.” Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 399–417.
  • Hartmann, M., 2017. “The international business elite: Fact or fiction?” In: New directions in elite studies, 31–45, Routledge.
  • Hugrée, C., Penissat, E., and Spire, A. 2020. Social Class in Europe: New Inequalities in the Old World, London, Verso.
  • Milanovic, B., 2016. Global Inequality. Harvard University Press.
  • Ogle, V., 2017. “Archipelago capitalism: Tax havens, offshore money, and the state, 1950s–1970s.” The American Historical Review, 122(5), 1431–1458.
  • Piketty, T., 2014. Capital in the 21st Century. Harvard University Press.
  • Piketty, T., 2020. Capital and Ideology. Harvard University Press.
  • Pistor, K., 2019. The code of capital: How the law creates wealth and inequality. Princeton University Press.
  • Sanghera, S., 2021. Empireland: How imperialism has shaped modern Britain. Penguin UK.
  • Savage, M., Cunningham, N.J., Devine, F., Friedman, S., Laurison, D., McKenzie, L., Miles, A., Snee, H., Wakeling, P., 2015. Social Class in the 21st Century, London, Penguin.
  • Savage, M., Hecht, K., Hjellbrekke, J., Cunningham, N. and Laurison, D., 2017. “The anatomy of the British economic ’elite’.” In: New Directions in Elite Studies, 150–173, Routledge.
  • Sklair, L., 1998. “The transnational capitalist class and global capitalism: The case of the tobacco industry.” Political Power and Social Theory, 12, 3–43.
  • Sklair, L., 2001. The transnational capitalist class. Blackwell.

Resources

Questions for Discussion

  1. To what extent are economic and social elites transnational in nature?
  2. Through what channels is this transnationalism evident? For example, cultural ties, institutional ties, economic ties
  3. How embedded are transnational elites? Does their transnationalism (‘citizens of everywhere’) imply rootlessness (‘citizens of nowhere’), or are there things which bind them to particular locations? If so, what is it that binds them?

In this session we discuss the importance of international ties amongst the UK’s global economic elite, by exploiting administrative data derived from tax records. We describe how this data can be used to shed light on the kind of transnational dynamics which have long been hypothesised to be of major significance in the UK, but which have previously proved intractable to systematic study.

Our work reveals the enduring and distinctive influence of long-term imperial forces, especially to the former ‘white settler’ ex-dominions which have been called the ‘anglosphere’. These are allied to more recent currents associated with European integration and the rise of Asian economic power. Here there are especially strong ties to the ‘old EU-6’ nations of France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Italy.

The incredible detail and universal coverage of our data means that we can study those at the very top with a level of granularity that would be impossible using traditional survey sources. We find compelling support for the public perception that non-doms are disproportionately highly affluent individuals who can be viewed as a part of a global elite. However, whilst there is some evidence for the stereotype of the global wealthy parking themselves in the UK, this underplays the significance of the working rich. Our analysis also reveals the remarkable concentration of non-doms in central areas of London

Reading

  • Advani, A., Burgherr, D., Savage, M., and Summers, A. 2022. “The UK’s Global Economic Elite: A sociological analysis using tax data.” CAGE working paper no. 570.
  • Advani, A., Burgherr, D., Savage, M., and Summers, A. 2022. “The UK’s ‘non-doms’: Who are they, what do they do, and where do they live?” CAGE policy brief no. 36.
  • Advani, A., Savage, M., and Summers, A. forthcoming. “Elaborating Class Analysis on the European Scale: The Importance of British ‘Non-domiciled’ Individuals.” In Class Boundaries in Europe, Taylor and Francis.
  • Advani, A., Summers, A., and Tarrant, H. 2022. “Who are the super-rich? The wealth and connections of the Sunday Times Rich List” CAGE policy brief no. 37.
  • Appadurai, A., 1996. Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization, Vol. 1, University of Minnesota Press.
  • Avery Jones, J.F., 2004. “Taxing foreign income from Pitt to tax law rewrite–the decline of the remittance basis.” Studies in the history of tax law.
  • Bell, D., 2016. Reordering the world: essays on liberalism and empire. Princeton University Press.
  • Bell, D., 2020. Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America. Princeton University Press.
  • Bhambra, G.K., 2021. “Narrating inequality, eliding empire.” The British Journal of Sociology, 72(1), 69–78.
  • Bhambra, G.K., 2022. “Relations of extraction, relations of redistribution: Empire, nation, and the construction of the British welfare state.” The British Journal of Sociology, 73(1), 4–15.
  • Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., and Zucman, G., 2022, World Inequality Report, Paris, World Inequality Laboratory.
  • Chatterjee, P., 2012. The black hole of empire: History of a global practice of power. Princeton University Press.
  • Fligstein, N., 2008. Euroclash: The EU, European identity, and the future of Europe. Oxford University Press.
  • Hanquinet, L. and Savage, M., 2018. “Feeling European in a globalised world and the role of mobility, networks, and consumption: A comparative approach to British exceptionalism.” European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5(4), 423–454.
  • Harrington, B., 2017. “Trusts and financialization.” Socio-Economic Review, 15(1), 31–63.
  • Harrington, B., and Seabrooke, L., 2020. “Transnational Professionals.” Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 399–417.
  • Hartmann, M., 2017. “The international business elite: Fact or fiction?” In: New directions in elite studies, 31–45, Routledge.
  • Hugrée, C., Penissat, E., and Spire, A. 2020. Social Class in Europe: New Inequalities in the Old World, London, Verso.
  • Milanovic, B., 2016. Global Inequality. Harvard University Press.
  • Ogle, V., 2017. “Archipelago capitalism: Tax havens, offshore money, and the state, 1950s–1970s.” The American Historical Review, 122(5), 1431–1458.
  • Piketty, T., 2014. Capital in the 21st Century. Harvard University Press.
  • Piketty, T., 2020. Capital and Ideology. Harvard University Press.
  • Pistor, K., 2019. The code of capital: How the law creates wealth and inequality. Princeton University Press.
  • Sanghera, S., 2021. Empireland: How imperialism has shaped modern Britain. Penguin UK.
  • Savage, M., Cunningham, N.J., Devine, F., Friedman, S., Laurison, D., McKenzie, L., Miles, A., Snee, H., Wakeling, P., 2015. Social Class in the 21st Century, London, Penguin.
  • Savage, M., Hecht, K., Hjellbrekke, J., Cunningham, N. and Laurison, D., 2017. “The anatomy of the British economic ’elite’.” In: New Directions in Elite Studies, 150–173, Routledge.
  • Sklair, L., 1998. “The transnational capitalist class and global capitalism: The case of the tobacco industry.” Political Power and Social Theory, 12, 3–43.
  • Sklair, L., 2001. The transnational capitalist class. Blackwell.

Resources

Questions for Discussion

  1. To what extent are economic and social elites transnational in nature?
  2. Through what channels is this transnationalism evident? For example, cultural ties, institutional ties, economic ties
  3. How embedded are transnational elites? Does their transnationalism (‘citizens of everywhere’) imply rootlessness (‘citizens of nowhere’), or are there things which bind them to particular locations? If so, what is it that binds them?