ABSTRACT
The analysis in the preceding chapter was written on the assumption of perfect selfishness, that is to say, on the assumption that each citizen planned his savings simply in order to alter the time shape of his own consumption. He did not expect to receive any inheritance from his parents or any support from his children in his old age; nor did he intend to support his own parents in their old age or to leave any wealth to be inherited by his children. This assumption makes it possible to conceive of two quite distinct types of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth which we may call ‘inter-class inequality’ and ‘inter-generation inequality’.
