Forbes 400

The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans (first published in 1982) is a list published by Forbes magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2011 marked the 30th issue.[1] The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982. Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swan describe the Forbes 400 as capturing "a period of extraordinary individual and entrepreneurial energy, a time unlike the extended postwar years, from 1945 to 1982, when American society emphasized the power of corporations." Bernstein and Swan also describe it as representing "a powerful argument – and sometimes a dream – about the social value of wealth in contemporary America."[2]

Inherited wealth may help explain why many Americans who have become rich may have had a "substantial head start".[3][4] In September 2012, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "over 60 percent" of the Forbes richest 400 Americans "grew up in substantial privilege".[5]

Criteria

The Forbes 400 reports who dominates the wealth in US. They annually create a list of the richest people in America to exhibit the shape of the economy. The magazine displays the story of someone's rise to fame, their company, age, industrial residence, and education. The list portrays the financial shift of trends, leadership positions, and growing philanthropy intentions.[6]

First list (1982)

In the first Forbes 400 list,[7] there were only 13 billionaires, and a net worth of 75 Million USD secured a spot on the list. The 1982 list represented 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. The 1982 Forbes 400 had 22.8% of the list composed of oil fortunes, with 15.3% from manufacturing, 9% from finance and only 3% from technology driven fortunes. The state of New York had the most representation on the list with 77 members followed by California with 48.[8]

2000

In the year 2000, Forbes 400 saw the highest percent of the Gross Domestic Product represented by the list at 12.2% driven by the internet boom.[9]

Demographics

Over the first 25 years of the Forbes 400 list, 1,302 distinct people made the list. In that time period, 97 immigrants (7.5%) and 202 women (15.5%) made the list. Four of the top five richest people in the United States in 2006 were college dropouts: Bill Gates, Sheldon Adelson, Larry Ellison, and Paul Allen.[10]

A few articles draw on data of the Forbes 400 to test an evolutionary hypothesis referred to as the Trivers-Willard hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that parents of high socioeconomic status produce more male offspring than parents of lower socioeconomic status.[11] Whereas an earlier study using data on the Forbes 400 shows a strong effect for U.S. billionaires that is consistent with the Trivers-Willard hypothesis,[12] a more recent study shows some caveats: First, the result is only consistent for male, but not female, billionaires. Second, it can only be found among heirs and not self-made billionaires.[13]

This has to do with the timing of wealth accumulation: some self-made billionaires had their children before they were rich, but heirs, by definition, were rich before ever becoming parents (see also [14]). Third, the size of the effect was largely overestimated, given that male offspring of billionaires as compared to female offspring is easier to find on the Web: Women sometimes change their last name upon marriage which makes some harder to find. Therefore, earlier reports on the male bias among billionaire offspring were partially an artifact of sample selection.[15]

The Forbes 400 is currently edited by Luisa Kroll.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kroll, Luisa. "The Forbes 400." Forbes Oct. 2010 p.17. Print.
  2. ↑ Bernstein, Peter W., and Annalyn Swan, eds. All the Money In the World: How the Forbes 400 Make and Spend- Their Fortunes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.
  3. ↑ Bruenig, Matt (March 24, 2014). "You call this a meritocracy? How rich inheritance is poisoning the American economy". Salon. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ Staff (March 18, 2014). "Inequality - Inherited wealth". The Economist. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ Pizzigati, Sam (September 24, 2012). "The 'Self-Made' Hallucination of America's Rich". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  6. ↑ Kroll, Luisa. "The Forbes 400." Forbes October 2010 p.23. Print.
  7. ↑ Forbes, Sept. 20, 2012
  8. ↑ Kroll, Luisa. "The Forbes 400." Forbes October 2010 p.20. Print.
  9. ↑ Kroll, Luisa. "The Forbes 400." Forbes October 2010 p.19. Print.
  10. ↑ Bernstein, Peter W., and Annalyn Swan, eds. All the Money In the World: How the Forbes 400 Make and Spend- Their Fortunes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.
  11. ↑ Trivers, Robert L.; Willard, Dan E. (1973). "Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring". Science 179 (4068): 90–92. doi:10.1126/science.179.4068.90. PMID 4682135.
  12. ↑ Cameron, E. Z.; Dalerum, F. (2009). Reby, David, ed. "A Trivers-Willard Effect in Contemporary Humans: Male-Biased Sex Ratios among Billionaires". PLoS ONE 4 (1): e4195. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004195. PMC 2614476. PMID 19142225.
  13. ↑ Schnettler, S. (2013). Sorci, Gabriele, ed. "Revisiting a Sample of U.S. Billionaires: How Sample Selection and Timing of Maternal Condition Influence Findings on the Trivers-Willard Effect". PLoS ONE 8 (2): e57446. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057446. PMID 23437389.
  14. ↑ Cameron, E. Z. (2004). "Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: Evidence for a mechanism". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 271 (1549): 1723–1710. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2773.
  15. ↑ Schnettler, S. (2013). Sorci, Gabriele, ed. "Revisiting a Sample of U.S. Billionaires: How Sample Selection and Timing of Maternal Condition Influence Findings on the Trivers-Willard Effect". PLoS ONE 8 (2): e57446. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057446. PMID 23437389.

External links

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