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Varieties of economic elites? Preliminary results from the World Elite Database (WED)

Author

Listed:
  • Bühlmann, Felix
  • Christesen, Caroline Ahler
  • Cousin, Bruno
  • Denord, François
  • Ellersgaard, Christoph Houman
  • Lagneau‐Ymonet, Paul
  • Larsen, Anton Grau
  • Savage, Mike
  • Thine, Sylvain
  • Young, Kevin
  • Araujo, Pedro
  • Arrigoni, Paola
  • Atria, Jorge
  • Benz, Pierre
  • Behr, Johanna
  • Botelho, Maria do Carmo
  • Butt, Asif
  • Casanova, Pedro
  • Clemente‐Casinhas, Luís
  • Castellani, Ana
  • Cescon, Fabio
  • Dagnes, Joselle
  • Debska, Hanna
  • Delval, Anne‐Sophie
  • Dragun, Vitalina
  • Egas, Andreia
  • Emilsson, Kajsa
  • Fan, Xiaoguang
  • Fu, Fan
  • Gentile, Julia
  • Gomes, Orlando
  • Gronwald, Victoria
  • Heredia, Mariana
  • Hjellbrekke, Johannes
  • Honório, Jorge
  • Huang, Jie
  • Inkley, Johnathan
  • Johansson, Håkan
  • Koiranen, Ilkka
  • Koivula, Aki
  • Kuusela, Hanna
  • Levita, Gabriel
  • Ling, Chao
  • Lu, Peng
  • Lukas, Michael
  • Lunding, Jacob
  • Mahmoudzadeh, Mina
  • McQuade, Sean
  • Méndez, María Luisa
  • Nunes, Nuno
  • O'Brien, Shay
  • Otero, Gabriel
  • Pagnini, Marta
  • Pelfini, Alejandro
  • Pereira, Jéssica
  • Roa, Catalina
  • Rossier, Thierry
  • Saga, Marte Lund
  • Santana, Dulce
  • Schneickert, Christian
  • Schimpfössl, Elisabeth
  • Schoenberger, François
  • Solipa, Izaura
  • Trembaczowski, Łukasz
  • Toft, Maren
  • Vale, Sofia
  • Vasconcelos, Pedro
  • Velazco, Jorge Quesada
  • Warczok, Tomasz
  • Yu, Xinguo

Abstract

The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder comparative analysis. The World Elite Database (WED) addresses this dual challenge, by generating, based on a consistent definition, standardised data for 16 countries. This research note introduces WED, its construction principles, and presents preliminary findings on how economic elites differ across countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bühlmann, Felix & Christesen, Caroline Ahler & Cousin, Bruno & Denord, François & Ellersgaard, Christoph Houman & Lagneau‐Ymonet, Paul & Larsen, Anton Grau & Savage, Mike & Thine, Sylvain & Young, Kev, 2025. "Varieties of economic elites? Preliminary results from the World Elite Database (WED)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 127763, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:127763
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/127763/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative

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