URPP Interdisciplinary Workshop on Inheritance

The right to bequeath and the right to inherit

In this two-day workshop, we bring together economists, legal scholars, and philosophers working on some of the fascinating issues pertaining to the right to bequeath and the right to inherit. How societies give shape to these two rights has far-reaching consequences, as it fixes an important dimension of our property rights, and determines the extent to which wealth is tied to families. While it is often argued that rights to bequeath and rights to inherit stand in the way of equality of opportunity and are thus to be rejected from a distributive justice point of view, there are interesting arguments in favour of preserving and strengthening such rights, as well, not least because they serve as important incentives for wealth-building in the first place. Speakers at the workshop will present their work in their usual disciplinary fashion, but we expect and encourage a lively exchange across disciplinary boundaries during the Q&A sessions. The workshop will include an interdisciplinary panel session, as well. 

Organizers:Susanne Burri, Maya Eden

Marius Brülhart, University of Lausanne

Laia Soler, University of Lausanne

Sean Fahle, University Hohenheim

Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Wayne State University

Christian Neuhäuser, University of Dortmund

Rowan Cruft, University of Stirling

Anca Gheaus, Central European University

Simona Sartor, Humbold University Berlin

Alejandro Berrotarán, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Nicolas Cornell, University of Michigan

Wednesday, July 1

 9.00 Registration and coffee                                 

 9.20 Welcome by the organisers                                               

 9.30 - 11.00 Marius Brülhart and Laia Soler "Unfree Wills: Inheritance Rules, Bequest Motives, and Wealth Diffusion"

11.00 - 11.15 Break                                   

11.15 - 12.45 Anca Gheaus "Safety funds for egalitarians"                                      

13.00 - 14.30 Lunch

14.30 - 16.00 Alejandro Berrotarán

16.00 - 16.15 Break

16.15 - 17.45 Christian Neuhäuser

19.00 Conference dinner     

Thursday, July 2               

 8.30 - 9.00 Tea, coffee                                                                             

 9.00 - 10.30 Simona Sartor

10.30 - 10.45 Break                                    

10.45 - 12.15 Rowan Cruft

12.15 - 13.45 Lunch

13.45 - 15.15 Sean Fahle

15.15 - 15.30 Break

15.30 - 16.30 Panel Discussion (Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Sussanne Burri, Nicolas Cornell, Maya Eden)                                                               

Registration

Restaurant Rigiblick, Germaniastrasse 99, 8044 Zurich

• take tram 9 or 10 or bus 33 to tram stop "Seilbahn Rigiblick"

• walk between the supermarket Migros and the pharmacy directly to the funicular railway

• get off at the last stop "Bergstation Rigiblick"

• 100m to the conference venue

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