A recent study has shown that the transfer of property due to inheritance in 2021 was twice that of 2020. It is probable that this is a result of the COVID 19 pandemic.
After every major wave of black death across Europe and in the roaring 20’s after the ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic, the wealth of the survivors increased substantially due to inheritance. It can be that it gave rise to significant intellectual advances, such as the Renaissance, due to people having more wealth and therefore more ability to avoid the ‘drudgery’ of life and be able to sit and think. In the 1920’s, commercial empires were created by individuals, though the country would be poorer by the debts created by war expenses, and especially by the loss of skilled trades and other individuals in the war and the flu immediately thereafter.Accordingly, we can expect increasing concentration of personal wealth as inheritance continues. How it will be spent for the advancement of mankind is quite another matter.
