The New York Times reports:

Fifteen years ago, the world’s billionaires collectively had $4.5 trillion.

By 2024, their wealth had more than tripled to $14.2 trillion.

Now, their combined wealth totals $20.1 trillion — an amount that is equivalent to nearly a fifth of the entire world’s total yearly output.

The stunning figures — calculated by the French economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the International Tax Observatory, a research organization funded by the European Union — reveal more than a surprisingly rapid increase in the concentration of wealth at the tippy top.

They also reflect a series of important global trends: the growing dominance of a few technology companies leading artificial intelligence development; the shrinking slice of the economic pie that goes to workers; and a deepening inequality that will be handed down to the next generation.

These developments are particularly prominent in the United States, where roughly one-third of the world’s nearly 3,000 billionaires reside — and perhaps the first trillionaire, Elon Musk, depending on how the initial public offering of his rocket and satellite company, SpaceX, goes on Friday. [Continue reading…]