Studying Wealth and Finance. A Social Science Perspective

The unequal distribution of wealth has gained interest in the last years. It increasingly dominates public debates about social inequality, taxes or social cohesion. At the same time, it has also stimulated an interdisciplinary debate within the social sciences, bringing together economists, historians and sociologists.

The aim of this workshop, open to all, is to discuss recent contributions on wealth distributions in Switzerland from different disciplinary horizons. A second part of the workshop will focus on how financialization and the emergence of alternative finance has contributed to new forms of social inequality and political cleavages.

PROGRAMME

Tuesday 9th November 2021 (Half-day on « Wealth in Switzerland»)

13h30 – 14h15            
Matthieu Leimgruber & Goeffroy Legentilhomme (UniZh): Wealth and the Wealthy in Early 20th Century Zurich

14h15 – 15h00            
Enea Baselgia & Isabel Martinez (HSG/ ETHZ): Tracking the Super-Rich: What Can We Learn from Swiss Rich Lists? 

15h30 – 16h15            
Grégory Quin, Philippe Vonnard & Gianluca Sorrentino (UniL): Beyond Wealth and Football Success. About the Presidents and the Changing Structures of Grasshopper Club Zurich (1970s-2020s)

16h15 – 17h00            
Ganga Jey Aratnam & Ueli Mäder (UNIBAS): Wealth and Power in Switzerland

17h00 – 17h30            
Discussion

Wednesday 10th November (Day on “Finance and Society”)

9h00 – 10h00              
Marlène Benquet & Théo Bourgeron (Université Paris-Dauphine & University College Dublin) : Authoritarian Finance

10h30 – 11h30            
Megan Tobias Neely (Copenhagen Business School): Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street.

11h30 – 12h30            
Fabien Foureault, Lena Ajdacic & Felix Bühlmann (UniL): Financialization as Recombination

14h00 – 14h45            
Lena Ajdacic (UniL): Networks, meritocratic credentials, or both at best: reaching the financial elite as a woman

14h45 – 15h30            
Jaleh Taheri (Lund University): Pathways to Elite Professions: Gender, Class and Globalization in the Financial Sector

16h00 – 16h45            
Benjamin Ménard (UniL): Private Equity at Work

16h45 – 17h30            
Discussion