Is Inheritance Legitimate? Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers

On 8 November 1995 we organized the conference Is Inheritance Legitimate? Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA). The conference brought together economists, philosophers and other social scientists to discuss the issues of bequest and inheritance. The conference programme featured five invited contributions; the revised versions of these five papers consitute the core of this book (Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7). Also included in this book are the written versions of the comments presented by the two discussants (Chapters 5 and 8). We also gave the opportunity to the authors who defended two radically different opinions on bequest and inheritance to comment upon one another's position (Chapters 9 and 10). Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; it situates the debate on inheritance in a broader ethical and economic framework, and summarizes the main points of the book. The conference was organized as part of a research project funded by the Flemish Fonds voor Wetenschap'pelijk Onderzoek (project number G. 0032. 95). Within UFSIA the conference was hosted by the 'Vakgroep Arbeidseconomie' of the Studiecentrum voor Economisch en Sociaal Onderzoek (SESO) and the Centrum voor Ethiek. The secretarial staff of SESO, in particular Annernarie Bunneghem and Linda Teunkens, did an excellent job in organizing the conference. Patricia De Bruyn and Tom Schatteman were extremely helpful in preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Antwerp, January 1997. Guido Erreygers and Toon Vandevelde, Editors CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .