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Pre-1870s: Colonialism and the Foundations of Wealth

Age of Exploration and Early Colonization (15th–18th Century):

Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, and France, established colonial empires.

Wealth flowed into Europe through the extraction of resources such as gold, silver, and spices, and through trade in commodities like sugar, tobacco, and cotton.

Transatlantic Slave Trade (16th–19th Century):

The trade of slaves fuelled the economic transfer as they enriched colonies and their subcequent colonizers

Cultural Wealth Transfer:

Apart from economic wealth, European colonial powers stole cultural artifacts and treasures, many of which remain in European museums and collections today.

Economic Inequalities in Colonies:

Colonial policies often impoverished colonized peoples, creating vast wealth disparities between European powers and their colonies, the effects of which can still be seen in global inequality patterns today.

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Industrial Revolution:

Rapid industrialization in Western Europe, especially in the UK, Germany, and France, led to the accumulation of wealth by entrepreneurs and a shift from agrarian economies.

Emergence of the Bourgeoisie:

The industrial bourgeoisie became the dominant economic class, accumulating wealth through factory ownership and innovations in technology.

Income Inequality:

Wealth distribution was highly unequal, with a growing gap between factory owners and the working class, who often lived in poverty.

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1914–1945: World Wars and Economic Disruption

World War I (1914–1918):

debt, inflation, and a redistribution of wealth due to the destruction of assets, infrastructure and lack of economic stability.

Interwar Economic Challenges:

hyperinflation (especially in Germany), economic downturns, and increased taxation, impacting wealth accumulation and creating instability.

World War II (1939–1945): Widespread destruction devastated economies, infrastructure, and wealth, especially in central and Eastern Europe. Post-war, countries saw substantial wealth loss and shifts in economic power.

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1945 - 1970s Reconstruction, Ideological Warfare

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1945 - 1970s Reconstruction, Ideological Warfare

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Marshall Plan (1948–1952):

The U.S. provided financial aid provided $12 billion ($100 billion today) to Western European countries for post-war reconstruction, which spurred economic growth.

The Truman Doctrine (1947)

provided political, military, and economic assistance to countries resisting communist influence (e.g., Greece and Turkey).

Welfare State Expansion: Western Europe developed welfare states, creating social security, unemployment benefits, and pensions. This transfer of wealth aimed to reduce poverty and income inequality.

Nationalization of Industries: Many industries (utilities, transportation, and healthcare) were nationalized, redistributing wealth and services under government control.

Eastern Bloc Redistribution: Under communist regimes, land, industries, and assets were nationalized, and wealth redistribution was implemented through planned economies. This resulted in reduced inequality but also suppressed economic innovation and growth.

End of Colonialism:

As European countries decolonized, many repatriated wealth from their former colonies. However, colonial powers often retained significant economic influence through trade agreements (France Afrique), limiting true wealth redistribution to former colonies.

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1970s Oil Crisis, Austerity & Economic Turmoil

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1970s Oil Crisis, Austerity & Economic Turmoil

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Oil Crises and Economic Stagnation (1973 & 1979)

A sharp increase in oil prices from the OPEC embargo, the Yom Kipur war and the Iranian revolution led to period of high oil prices and a period of economic stagflation, high prices and high unemployment for europe which strained social systems

Additionally this crisis caused deurbanization and weakend the bargaining power of labour unions which limited wage growth and stifled the redistributive mechanisms tied to employment (Particullary important in the United States)

The Crisis weakened heavy industrials and traditional manufacturing sector jobs so the lower class was disproportionately affected increasing the divide between the eruopean north and south.

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1980s: Neoliberal Reforms, Privatization and Auesterity

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1980s: Neoliberal Reforms, Privatization and Auesterity

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Thatcherism and Reaganomics Influence:

Ronald Reagan of the United States and Margeret Thatcher of the United kingdom both representing the conservative party put into a place a series or auesterirty mesures that reduced social spending, reduced taxation, particularly on the wealthy and propossed and novel idea of trickle down economics in which by allowing the top 10 percent to succeed freely it would overall benefit society.

Privatization: Publicly owned industries in sectors like utilities, telecommunications, and transportation were sold to private investors. In many cases, this resulted in a transfer of wealth to private shareholders and often concentrated wealth among elites.

Impact on Wealth Inequality

Privatization created significant economic opportunities for investors but limited redistributive benefits for the general population.

Tax reforms often reduced the progressive nature of taxation, lowering rates for high-income earners and corporations, further concentrating wealth.

Shift in Economic Makeup and Industry:

The shift from the heavy industry and manufacturing jobs which boomed in post war Europe in sectors like the Automobile changed and became Quaternary sector industries such as, Private Equity, Law and particullary finacial services wided the wealth gap and destroyed opportunities for the middle and lower class while enrichening the elites.

Finacialization.

Post-Communist Transition in Eastern Europe

The soviet union prior to its collapse had fuelled a class of oligarchs not seen in prior decades and after the fall of the soviet union the oligarchs raced to strip the nation of all that they could further widening the wealth disparity.

Additionally the opening of these eastern nations to europe had the same effect as the single europe act of (1986) did had in brain draining these nations and wealth flow into western european nations.

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European Union Expansion, Single Market and Eurozone Creation (1999):

The EU's free movement of trade allowed further economic intigration and an increase of wealth in some regions it is not without mention that the introduction of the euro into power european nations such as italy and greece caused greece's finacial system to almost collapse and italians faced monatary inequality due exchange rate disparity between the Lira and new adopted Euro.

Financialization: With more liberalized financial markets and access to more markets than ever before wealth increasingly concentrated among investors, especially as stock markets rose in the 1990s and early 2000s with the birth of new finacial services through the use of technology.

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Financial Crisis (2008):

The crisis led to wealth destruction due to stock market crashes, unemployment, and a downturn in property values. Many middle-class households saw wealth erosion.

The crash can be attributed to lax regulation of the finacial sector which caused a system of unrepayable loans given to poor debitors demonstrating the unsavory culmination of private capital and deregulation.

Austerity Measures:

Neo Austerity meassures in response in response to debt crisis (notably in Greece, Spain, and Portugal), European countries implemented austerity policies, cutting public spending. This impacted welfare and increased income inequality.

Notably in england Austerity was the name of the game to "reduce wasteful spending" and to free up margets from regulation to return to economic properity this was headed by david cameron

Bailouts:

A wealth transfer that is blaringly obvious is the bailouts that bing banks received from national goverments using public funds to make sure these companies and industries wouldn't collapse in the wake of the crisis.

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2014 – 2020: Recovery, Inequality, and New Forms of Wealth

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2014 – 2020: Recovery, Inequality, and New Forms of Wealth

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Economic Recovery:

While the Post-crisis recovery saw a return of wealth to pre-crisis levels inequality remained high.

The the rise of the tech sector in the 2010s Europe has benefited from the silicon valley innovations and tech CEO's inside of it's boarders. This new wealth though has not found it's way into the hands of the lower class and the nature of the industry leads to consolidation and the new regulatory landscape of the industry had not been laid out yet. it in only in recent years gonverments have begun to catch on.

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COVID-19 Pandemic (2020):

The pandemic led to government stimulus programs, which provided financial support to businesses and citizens. While some wealth transfer occurred through these programs, wealth concentration in certain sectors, like technology and pharmaceuticals, increased.

Companies in the pharmacutical sector and oil sector used the crisis as an opportunity to raise prices and make record breaking profits as essential goods became scare and systems shut down or crawled to walking pace.