An extreme wealth line (EWL) functions as a governance benchmark: a policy-relevant reference point that enables governments to identify, assess, and respond to extreme wealth concentration as a systemic governance risk whose scale and effects warrant monitoring and policy action. It addresses the top-end drivers of persistent structural inequality and poverty by providing a context-sensitive reference point for identifying levels of individual net wealth associated with elevated risks to democratic governance, ecological sustainability, economic resilience, fiscal capacity, human rights protections, and the integrity of social and institutional trust. It is similar in concept to the extreme poverty line, but instead of defining the minimum resources needed to live with dignity, it defines ‘how much is too much’. Different proposals measure the EWL either as an absolute threshold, a relative threshold or an impact based-threshold. An extreme wealth line is not itself a wealth cap, nor does it mandate a single policy instrument. Rather, it provides an analytical reference point to inform the design, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of fiscal, regulatory, and institutional reforms aimed at reducing poverty, limiting the systemic risks associated with extreme wealth concentration, and strengthening fiscal and democratic capacity – without presuming perpetual GDP growth as the basis for social advancement.
